The 2014 farm bill, passed just a few weeks ago, makes several changes to conservation programs. Most notably, a number of programs were merged, and conservation compliance was connected to crop insurance.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) says the bill contains plenty of good and bad news for conservation advocates. On the plus side, NSAC officials say the top thing is connecting compliance to crop insurance.

That move was opposed by many ag groups because there was concern loss of federally subsidized crop insurance would mean no crop insurance for those who might get caught in a problem beyond their control.

But, officials at the American Farm Bureau Federation say some of those concerns have been reduced because the language says the farmer would lose the federal crop insurance subsidy instead of all chance of obtaining insurance.

“From our perspective, the biggest policy change in the new farm bill is to reconnect crop insurance subsidies to conservation compliance requirements that protect soil and water resources,” says Susan Heathcote, water program director for the Iowa Environmental Council.

Meanwhile, the new farm bill consolidates 23 conservation programs into 13. Advocates say the idea is to simplify conservation at the federal government level and reduce administrative overhead.

“Anytime you can make the government more efficient that is good,” says Ben Gleason, sustainable program manager for the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

Environmental groups say they are hopeful the changes will make existing programs more flexible and useful to more farmers. But, some organizations are concerned the efficiencies also may mean less money for conservation. Several programs are looking at program cuts. For example, the CRP cap would drop to 24 million acres by 2017. Current CRP enrollment is about 25.6 million acres.

On the plus side, environmental groups say the new farm bill makes wetland and grassland easement funding permanent, meaning there will not be a need to try to find new funding in the next farm bill debate.

One example of the merger of conservation programs is the new Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. It is the result of the merger of the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Grassland Reserve Program and the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program.

Source - http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/