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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, May 07, 2024
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are still several months away from voting on a new farm bill, but the major issues in each of the 12 titles are coming into focus even as lawmakers continue offering new proposals they’d like to see included. Here is a summary of the issues in play as well as notable proposals lawmakers would like to see included in the bill.
The Agriculture Department has agreed to enroll 1.07 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Fund this year out of the 1.19 million acres offered by landowners under general signup rules.
A bipartisan Senate bill would accelerate a shift in the Conservation Reserve Program toward grasslands and smaller, environmentally sensitive parcels away from the larger tracts that have been traditionally enrolled through the general signup process.
When the wind blows in Prowers County, soil tends to follow. The southeastern Colorado county sits at the heart of what is known as the “Dust Bowl” region, a place where the fear of prairie winds scattering tilled dirt through communities and towns looms large.
The Agriculture Department will begin receiving applications for the Conservation Reserve Program general signup on February 27 with the hopes that it reaches the 27-million-acre cap set for this year.
Many farm groups list crop insurance as their top priority for the next farm bill, but the organizations start to differ when it comes to other concerns, according to this week's Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.
Producers have signed up in increasing numbers to protect grasslands, adding more of a “working” element to the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers for employing conservation practices on their land.
