Farm Bill offers some conservation wins, falls short in advancing climate-smart agriculture and forestry

Today the House Committee on Agriculture passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024, which now goes to the full House for a vote. Among other policies, the bill would provide resources to farmers, ranchers, foresters, and other private landowners to voluntarily implement conservation efforts on working lands.

“The bill passed out of committee today provides resources to farmers and ranchers to implement conservation efforts on working lands, and we thank the Committee for their commitment to these key issues. However, we are concerned that the bill falls short in some key areas, including removing critical guardrails in the Inflation Reduction Act that support farmers, ranchers, and land managers working to conserve their lands to help solve the climate crisis,” said Felice Stadler, vice president of government affairs at the National Audubon Society. “These voluntary conservation programs and practices are overwhelmingly popular and demonstrate the growing interest in adopting agricultural practices that store and capture carbon on the land. Additionally, the renewable energy provisions included in this bill fail to take the steps necessary to ensure growers and producers can easily access clean energy and energy efficiency resources that reduce emissions while lowering their overhead costs.”

“As negotiations continue in both chambers and across the aisle, the National Audubon Society and our 1.4 million members and supporters call on Congress to invest in the future of conservation and to pass a bipartisan bill that recognizes the importance of working lands and climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices that protect biodiversity—and our planet,” said Stadler.

The Farm Bill is the largest source of federal funding for voluntary conservation on working lands. Audubon supports a Farm Bill that secures the historic $20 billion in funding for climate-smart agriculture included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and is not diverted away from programs that incentivize voluntary conservation to benefit wildlife habitat. 

Audubon has engaged its 1.4 million members and supporters through action alerts and ads calling on elected officials to support a Farm Bill that builds on the strong foundation of current conservation programs to better address the challenges facing communities and wildlife across the country. 

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