A group of U.S. Senators are calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund agricultural conservation programs in the FY 2025 funding bill.
“Land-based mitigation measures in agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors represent some of the most important options currently available for large-scale emissions reductions and the removal and storage of carbon dioxide at scale,” Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Chris Coons (D-DEL) and 24 of their Senate colleagues, wrote in a letter to Appropriations Committee leadership. “We need strong investments in USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation staff and resources to support farmers, ranchers, and foresters to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.”
The Senators want $1.2 billion for conservation funding, highlighting the success of agricultural conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) along with many others. They want full farm bill funding for these NRCS programs that provide technical and planning assistance to farmers and help producers across the country manage their working lands more sustainably.