Farmers and landowners would share a combined $5 billion in payments for planting cover crops to reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff under a proposal written by farm state Democrats in the Senate and House. The package would also boost spending on a handful of existing stewardship programs for total outlays of $28 billion.
The $28 billion in funding for conservation and climate-smart practices would be added to the “build back better” bill under discussion in Congress once the Congressional Budget Office has agreed on its price tag. All the same, unofficial descriptions of the package circulated on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said the $28 billion would be the largest federal investment in land stewardship since the Dust Bowl. The CBO estimated that USDA conservation programs would cost $65 billion during the coming decade.
“We are leading the way on helping farmers tackle the climate crisis,” said Stabenow in a statement. “Our conservation programs are proven and popular with farmers, ranchers, and foresters. This will make a huge impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and is the equivalent of taking over 142 million cars off the road.”
A one-page description from House Democrats said, “The climate-smart ag provisions of the Build Back Better Budget will make a historic investment in conservation programs, roughly doubling the five-year farm bill funding for these widely supported, critical programs.”
Applications for USDA assistance frequently overwhelm the funding available in conservation programs. Some advocates have suggested that to achieve its climate goals, the government should take advantage of Farm Belt interest in these programs instead of creating a so-called USDA carbon bank or new climate-specific programs. President Biden wants U.S. agriculture to be the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases and says farmers will make money doing it.
According to a preliminary Senate draft, landowners would qualify for payments of $25 an acre on up to 1,000 acres if they establish cover crops in their fields for soil health and to address climate change. “Non-operating landowners” would be in line for payments of $5 an acre for encouraging tenants to sow cover crops on rented land. The House Democrats’ description said the $5 billion cover crop initiative “provides farmers an alternative to get started with this critical conservation practice.”
Cover crops, which provide a vegetative blanket during fallow seasons, are planted on 5 percent of U.S. cropland, said a USDA report early this year. The practice creates additional work and expense for growers; one farmer estimated that seed costs $25 to $65 an acre. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency, which oversees crop insurance, offered a “premium support” of $5 an acre this spring for growers who incorporated cover crops into their operations.
Also in the $28 billion package was $9 billion for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which shares the cost of conservation practices; $7.5 billion for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which leverages outside funds to tackle runoff and other issues on a watershed basis; $4 billion for the Conservation Stewardship Program, a “green” payment for making land, water, and habitat preservation a part of everyday farming activities; and $1.5 billion for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, which protects land from development.
The additional funding for the stewardship programs would be aimed at climate mitigation efforts, including reducing methane emissions from livestock and sequestering carbon. Agriculture generates around 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.