Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow curtly rejected on Thursday a suggestion to divert climate change funding for agriculture to more generalized soil and water conservation work. “I know that there is a broad coalition of support standing with me,” she said.
“It is surprising to see that these popular resources are being targeted for other priorities, but I am committed to defending them for their intended purposes,” said Stabenow soon after Republican staff workers on the Senate Agriculture Committee argued for opening up climate mitigation funding “to address other resource concerns.”
The 2022 climate, healthcare, and tax law earmarked $20 billion for USDA stewardship programs to prioritize practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase climate resiliency. It is the only new funding available for the farm bill. There have been repeated suggestions to shift the money into programs that are part of the farm bill, if only to “build a baseline” under congressional budgeting rules and guarantee increased funding in future years for conservation. It would be easier in that scenario to transfer money into crop supports. Farm groups want both higher reference prices, a key in calculating subsidy payments, and an expanded crop insurance program.
In a Republican blog, Agriculture Committee staffers proposed “moving and then expanding [climate] conservation dollars in the farm bill to address resource concerns.” Half of current spending on two USDA conservation programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program, goes to projects that are not recognized as climate mitigation but are important for reducing runoff, preserving groundwater, or satisfying environmental regulations, they said.
In a statement, Stabenow said, “The climate crisis is the most urgent threat facing our farmers today, and all farmers benefit when we take this threat seriously.”
“This is additive support for farmers, and they’re demanding more of it,” said a USDA spokesperson. “The assertion that these new streams somehow take away from existing farm bill programs simply doesn’t stand up — those traditional funds are still available.”
Work on the farm bill has stalled because of the demand for higher reference prices and the lack of funding to accommodate it, said one farm lobbyist.