Barbara Boxer: “the farm bill before us recognizes the importance of environmental conservation in agriculture and provides funding for…”

“the farm bill before us recognizes the importance of environmental conservation in agriculture and provides funding for programs that support those measures. California livestock operations come in all sizes, but many of them are large operations requiring substantial environmental management activities. Access to programs that support environmental improvements is key to ensuring that the best environmental practices are undertaken on these farms. Senator Wellstone's amendment, which would limit access to conservation funding based on factors like the size of the farm, falls disproportionately hard on California farmers and would ultimately slow down environmental improvements. Limitations on these payments will not eliminate those farms, it will only limit support for conservation efforts that are so critically important in these operations. For those reasons, I must vote against the Wellstone amendment and support conservation funding for California farmers.”