The drought that plagued our state and the rest of the country last year was a nightmare come true for many. Farmers and ranchers suffered record losses, and may have still not recovered. With drought expected to become a more frequent occurrence in the future, we need to start implementing policies today that will give us the best chance of coping with these harsh conditions in the future.
A good place to start is with the Farm Bill.
Because Congress was unable to pass a five year Farm Bill last year, they were forced to punt the fight downfield for another nine months by passing an extension. This means Congress will have to start all over again with a new bill this year. For many this is a big disappointment, but I see it as an opportunity to get things right this go around. Specifically, by prioritizing soil and water conservation in the new bill.
One of the best defenses against drought is having healthy, resilient soil and abundant wetlands to fall back on. These two things are easily achieved through something known as conservation compliance. This covenant between farmers and taxpayers states that where public money is invested, farmers will implement measures to minimize erosion on their most erosion-prone fields and refrain from draining wetlands.
Conservation compliance is critical for reducing soil erosion, protecting wetlands, reducing downstream flooding risk, and decreasing nutrient pollution into rivers, lakes and streams. However, with the farm subsidy system set to shift away from direct payments in the next Farm Bill, conservation compliance needs to be re-linked to taxpayer subsidized crop insurance, which will become the largest of the federal benefits farmers receive.
Without this measure, the Farm Bill could become a vehicle for subsidizing dangerous and short sighted farming practices in our state. Conservation compliance has been attributed to achieving hundreds of millions of tons of soil erosion reduction. Without it, farmers will be allowed to use taxpayer dollars to farm in a way that does long term damage to the land. One must only look to the Dust Bowl to understand the worst case scenario – where short-sighted farming practices collided with a record drought to produce disaster.
Conservation compliance requires that farmers follow a conservation plan when farming highly erodible soil. Conservation practices that reduce erosion also improve the soil’s resilience during a drought, in effect providing a safety net for our soil. Healthy, resilient soil will ultimately help farmers to ensure long-term productivity even with wild swings in weather.
We have a chance with the next Farm Bill to help fight drought in the future. However, we need our elected leaders in Congress to stand up for solutions like conservation compliance. Future generations dealing with drought will look back and thank them if they do.
Bergh, of Wallace, farms corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and operates a cow-calf operation.