By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

MONROEVILLE, Ohio — The Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) is urging its members to contact their legislators to ask for a federal farm bill that prioritizes fish, wildlife and water quality.

Neither the Senate nor the House version of the bill increases funding for conservation, said Duane Hovorka, IWLA Agriculture Program director.

“I think more money needs to be spent on buffer strips, cover crops, things for regenerative agriculture,” said Rick Graham, who has served as the IWLA Ohio Division president. He is the chair of IWLA National Environmental Health and Air Committee and of its National Great Lakes Committee.

The Senate farm bill maintains funding for conservation programs, although it does not provide for an increase, Hovorka explained. The House bill would cut spending on conservation programs over the next 10 years, diverting the funds to more generous commodity payments to farmers, trade and other programs.

However, the House bill would earmark up to 1 percent of conservation program funds to assess and evaluate program results, which should help boost the conservation benefits of each dollar spent, he said.

The IWLA position on farm bill conservation issues highlights the many differences between the Senate and House bills, Hovorka explained. Five critical issues could determine whether the final farm bill is a “win” or “loss” for fish, wildlife and water quality.

“With the huge demand for farm bill conservation programs, Congress should provide at least full funding for the Conservation Title and ensure the funds result in even greater benefits for our natural resources,” he said.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has been one of the nation’s most successful programs, he noted, and IWLA thinks it is critical to continue to target that program in watersheds and in places where it will do the most good.

“That means protecting the Department of Agriculture’s ability to pay farmers at rates that will keep them coming into the program,” Hovorka explained. “In a lot of cases, farmers are taking a small piece of their land out of production to put it into these high-value practices – things like buffer strips, filter strips, windbreaks.

“We think that the payment rates need to reflect at least the market value.”

Crop insurance is another important issue for the League. The key is that farmers who put soil health building practices – things like cover crops, diverse crop rotations and no-till – are reducing their risk of a crop loss by building their soil health. The ideas is that should be recognized through a discount on the crop insurance premiums they pay.

The House farm bill would eliminate the Conservation Stewardship Program, which helps farmers to adopt high-level conservation systems. The IWLA thinks it is critical that remain part of the new farm bill.

The House bill would divert some of those funds to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which takes more of a field-by-field and resource-by-resource approach to conservation. EQIP funds can also be used to build large feedlot lagoons and install expensive irrigation systems that deliver few environmental benefits, says the IWLA.

The Senate bill keeps both programs in place while reducing their size to boost funding for other conservation programs. It also increases the share of EQIP dollars earmarked for wildlife habitat from 5 to 10 percent.

Finally, there are some controversial provisions mostly in the House bill that deal with issues that are really outside the farm bill – IWLA wants a bipartisan farm bill that will get a great deal of support from both sides by leaving out issues such as killing the Clean Water Rule and dealing with the Endangered Species Act.

Graham thinks a farm bill supported by both sides is critical right now. He is concerned with the sustainability of agriculture.

“The most important issue facing us relative to us getting this nutrient issue under control is the fact that our soils are so impaired due to the loss of what I consider the biological vitality of the soil,” he said.

“The bottom line keeps going down. We need to support regenerative soil programs, cover crops and better practices. The vertical tillage and the chemicals are the primary culprits that are knocking out the biological vitality.”