Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Guest Column: 2008 Farm Bill advances Leopold Center mission

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2008

By Senator TOM HARKIN, Guest columnist

Just as the Leopold Center looks to the future with innovative research and practical applications that promote an economically, environmentally and socially sound food and agriculture system for farmers and consumers alike, the recently passed farm bill – The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 – includes a good deal of new help toward accomplishing those important goals. The omnibus bill provides critical resources to conserve and protect natural resources, promote local and regional marketing of agricultural food products and develop needed research, market and production information to help organic farmers succeed.

The Leopold Center’s work is of enduring and increasing importance as agriculture deals with challenges to conserve resources and protect the quality of the environment, especially in light of higher costs for fuel, energy, fertilizer and other elements of production.
 
Agricultural research, extension and education are the foundation for the success of the food and agriculture sectors and farming and rural communities. The research title of the 2008 farm bill recognizes the importance of agricultural research to both producers and consumers alike, and makes targeted investments for the research and development of critical advances in the food and agricultural sciences, including for beginning farmers and ranchers and Iowa’s growing fruit, vegetable, organic and local food enterprises.

The farm bill’s new Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) sets a priority to fund research on plant and animal breeding techniques suitable for sustainable and organic agriculture that will take into account regional environmental differences.

Organic producers also will benefit from critical research funding to help them overcome production and marketing challenges. The USDA will conduct organic price reporting on a national scale, and offer further analysis and surveys so that producers have real time pricing and production information for the organic industry. Organic producers once again will have assistance to offset the annual cost of maintaining their status as USDA-certified organic.

The bill includes more help for growers of fruits, vegetables and horticultural crops.  Farmers and consumers alike will benefit from the bill’s grants and loans to boost distribution and marketing of foods produced organically, locally or regionally – such as through farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and other direct-to-consumer channels.
 
Conservation initiatives and new funding in the legislation will deliver new help to farmers in Iowa and across the nation in their efforts to conserve soil, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat. The recent heavy rainfall in Iowa vividly demonstrates the value of good conservation practices and the need to help farmers do more. With the push to meet booming demand for farm commodities, and millions of additional acres of land coming back into production, the farm bill’s added investment in conservation is even more critical.

To respond to current and mounting conservation challenges, the Conservation Security Program (CSP) has been renamed the Conservation Stewardship Program. The farm bill provides new funding and streamlines and simplifies CSP to ease the paperwork burden. Farmers will know up front what they need to do in order to receive a payment and how much they will be paid – and we have eliminated the rotation of CSP enrollment, watershed by watershed, so that all producers may apply.

The 2008  farm bill also makes a large new investment in conservation cost-share and incentive payments through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), including specific direction to the USDA to assist producers with conservation practices in making the transition into organic agriculture.

Across the full spectrum of agriculture, the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 looks to the future and advances sustainable agriculture in Iowa and across our nation. I am proud to have had a leading role in crafting this legislation of such importance to Iowa and our nation. 

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2008