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Farm bill extension causes conservation program concerns

A South Dakota farmer is concerned conservation programs could be negatively impacted by the lack of a new farm bill.

Rodney Koch of Garretson says he’s used the Conservation Stewardship and Environmental Quality Incentives programs to improve his operation.

“How do we help more people? Or how do we broaden our horizons or get more people involved in trying to make some changes and try to be the best steward of the land that we can be if that’s not there? There’s really not an incentive otherwise.”

He tells Brownfield despite a last-minute extension by Congress, there’s still a lot of uncertainty with the current farm bill.

“(USDA) will run out of funding, and then they’ll get more funding. So it’s uncertain because you don’t know is it going to be there, or are they going to take it away? It would surely be nice to get something set that we can plan for and know what’s going to be there and how can we navigate that.”

House Ag Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig recently told Brownfield the EQUIP program has been “over-subscribed” and she wants to ensure it is more robust to meet the needs of farmers in the next farm bill.