Faithful Harvest Campaign Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) The WRP helps farmers and other landowners take lands out of production and restore them as wetlands. Wetlands have critically important functions like floodwater storage, water filtration, and biological production. Agricultural conservation programs have played an important role in slowing the trend of wetland loss in the United States. More than half of the United States’ original wetlands have been converted to other uses, robbing us all of the important role that wetlands play. The Wetlands Reserve Program will cease to exist if Congress does not provide funding for it to continue beyond 2007. Conservation Security Program (CSP) The CSP pays farmers for environmental performance on working lands. The program both rewards existing conservation measures, as well as encourages producers to strive for higher conservation outcomes. It was the first effort in farm policy to create a sort of “green payment” program - to reward landowners for conservation efforts that are benefits to us all. The program was originally intended to be available to all who applied, but appropriators took $4.3 billion from the program, forcing the eligibility requirements to be severely restricted by geographical location. We believe that this program, if funded appropriately, can have significant environmental benefits and become cornerstone of farm conservation efforts that reward and encourage good stewardship of working lands. Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) EQIP provides financial and technical assistance to help farmers and ranchers install or implement structural and management practices that promote both production and environmental quality. Prior to the 2002 farm bill, this program had a payment limit of $150,000 over 5 years (now $450,000 over 5 years) and a prohibition that prevented funds from going to large concentrated animal feedlot operations (CAFOs) for waste handling and storage facilities. Since this prohibiton has been eliminated and the payment limit raised, many believe that this program is hastening the expansion of CAFOs, which are extrememly poor environmental performers. The pre-2002 levels should be re-instated to protect the integrity of this conservation program, and to eliminate its use as a subsidy for CAFOs. Commodity Programs The government makes payments to farmers based on what crops they grow (payments go to growers of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice and eight other commodity crops) and how much they produce. Tying payments to only certain crops discourages farmers from diversifying into crops that might be more profitable, or gentler on the land. The connection to production volume encourages farmers to overproduce. Farm payments were once expected to invigorate rural America with an in-flow of cash, but in actuality, a recent study found that those counties receiving the most in government payments were actually MORE likely to be experiencing population loss and a lack of job opportunities. What’s more is that these payments go predominantly to the largest, most profitable farms. It’s clear that farm payments are not working the way that they ought to be. Change in the payment system is scary for farmers, but our policymakers are capable of crafting a system that is more fair, provides our small- and mid-sized farmers with a safety net in lean times, and encourages sound conservation decisions.