Agricultural News
Conservation Districts Applaud Efforts of House Agriculture Committee Leadership
Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:45:10 CDT
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) applauds U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson for passing H.R. 6083, The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act, out of Committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 35-11.
"This bill would not have progressed without the passion, experience and leadership of Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson and their ability to overcome the challenges of the current economic, political and partisan climate," said NACD President Gene Schmidt. "Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson have always been stanch advocates for locally-led conservation, and we fully support their bipartisan efforts in moving this strong, common-sense bill out of Committee. The FARRM Act demonstrates a firm commitment to the protection of our nation's precious natural-resource base for the future."
Similar to the Farm Bill that passed the full Senate last month, the FARRM Act includes a strong Conservation Title that streamlines and consolidates programs for increased efficiency and ease-of-use for producers. At the same time, it maintains critical funding for all of the conservation purposes needed to implement conservation where it counts.
"While the FARRM Act does call for cuts to conservation spending, we believe it does so through a common-sense approach, which consolidates and streamlines programs to preserve the ability of conservation districts, producers, landowners and other partners to continue working together to implement conservation on the ground," Schmidt continued. "However, cuts above the $6 billion outlined in the Bill will compromise these efforts, putting our nation's critical-and irreplaceable-natural resources at risk for the future."
NACD urges swift consideration and passage of the Bill by the full U.S. House of Representatives.
"As much of our nation currently faces extreme weather conditions, ranging from fires, to flood, to drought, the importance of local, long-term conservation planning is more evident than ever," said Schmidt. "A strong investment in conservation today will help avoid escalated costs of repair in the future."
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