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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Sunday, May 19, 2024
The Conservation Reserve Program would undergo some major changes under House Agriculture Committee Republicans' proposed farm bill draft, but they won't be seen in the acreage cap, according to text unveiled today in preparation for a committee markup next week.
USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, Robert Bonnie, says the department is trying to be both “aggressive” and “smart” in getting Inflation Reduction Act funding out the door.
Lawmakers are going to be leaving a lot of money on the table – nearly $1.8 billion – if they can’t agree on putting Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding into a new farm bill.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a fresh $500 million in funding for wildfire mitigation Tuesday and warned lawmakers to keep the Inflation Reduction Act's forestry funding aimed at its current purpose.
Supporters of the Inflation Reduction Act’s conservation funding are determined to protect it from attempts to shift some of the money into other farm programs.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is preparing to confirm later this morning that he will be using $2.3 billion in funding from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation to help farm groups promote their goods in foreign markets as well as donate more U.S.-grown commodities to those in need overseas, according to government officials.
House Republicans remain unable to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded in October. Meanwhile, senators left town Thursday still unable to get agreement on bringing up a three-bill spending package that includes its version of the USDA-FDA bill.
Fresh off the heels of a nearly $266 million renewable energy announcement from USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is urging a hands-off approach by those outside the department looking to tweak the agency’s funding pools.
The chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service expressed confidence that the agency could hire the staff it needs to handle a sharp increase in climate-related funding, despite many applicants for soil conservationist positions lacking a key job requirement – a class in soil science.
Congressional Republicans who opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, the main funding mechanism for President Joe Biden's climate policy, would like to move the IRA's funding for climate-related farming practices into the farm bill, which could permanently boost funding for conservation programs.
