SAFSF Funders Webinar The Farm Bill -Conservation Title June 9, 2011

1. SAFSF Funders Webinar The Farm Bill -Conservation Title June 9, 2011 • Moderator: Aimee Witteman, The McKnight Foundation • Speakers: • Craig Cox, Environmental Working Group (EWG) • Adam Warthesen, Land Stewardship Project (LSP)

2. What is the conservation title… • Conservation requirements in return for farm subsidies… • Highly erodible cropland conservation – must have soil conservation practices on vulnerable cropland. • Wetland conservation – must not drain wetlands. • Programs that deliver money and technical help on conservation… • Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). • Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). • Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). • Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). • 2011 – 89% of conservation funds to these 4 programs.

3. 2012 Farm Bill – What’s at stake? • Era of crop surpluses is over – Era of all out production begins. • Biofuel policy adding fuel to the fire – tying grain prices to crude oil prices. • Farm and insurance subsidies enabling and favoring industrial-scale production of raw material for the food system.

4. Climate change… • Weather becoming more unfriendly. • Increased frequency of severe and damaging storms. • Increased frequency of severe and damaging droughts. • Combination of both.

5. All-out production plus climate change in the corn belt…

6. Simple practices – big improvement…

7. Critical victories at stake… Conservation Compliance… Conservation in return for subsidies More and better funding Big Increase – Better Balance

8. Farm bill fight – Follow the money… • If we did the farm bill today our budget for the next ten years would be $212.9 billion. • 2012 will be the first farm bill since 1996 that must spend less than the previous bill. • Where cuts fall will reflect profound decisions about priorities in our food and agriculture system.

9. Follow the money… • Funding has fallen far below promises, but still more than we had before. • 2011 continuing resolution and 2012 appropriations should sound a warning bell. • Yet…House appropriations committee cuts direct payments for the first time.

10. 2012 Farm Bill -- Big opportunities… • Defend funding – shift funding from commodity crop and insurance subsidies to key food and environmental programs. • Unwind the worst cases of perverse incentives and unlevel playing field created by crop and insurance subsidies. • Renewed emphasis on conservation compliance—carrots with strings—with primary emphasis on reconnecting to crop and revenue insurance programs. • Surgical reform to conservation title to improve performance and get better results.

11. Funder Opportunities—Big Needs • Build capacity to do aggressive, creative and well-informed advocacy shaping opinion in Washington DC. • Budget debates that will shape the 2012 farm bill are already underway. • Will need to fight harder and smarter in this climate to save or extend the critical gains made in earlier farm bills.

12. Funder Opportunities—Big Needs • Capacity on the ground to turn promise into reality – use the programs and money provided by the farm in creative ways to support sustainable agriculture and protect the environment. • Implementation, implementation, implementation.

13. Healthy Land, Food and People • The conservation title is a key piece of larger food system reform. • We need to capture the energy around healthy food and people and make the connection to healthy land. • Sustain the momentum from previous farm bill victories – extend those victories where possible.

14. Thank you… craig@ewg.org www.ewg.org/agmag