Jeff Fortenberry: “I've been pleased to work with Congressman Thompson in providing this commonsense amendment to enhance the conservation…”

“I've been pleased to work with Congressman Thompson in providing this commonsense amendment to enhance the conservation goals in our country. Our farmers and ranchers are the first stewards of the land. This amendment would simply continue the practice of conservation planning on our most fragile lands to ensure that we meet important land and stewardship goals. The concept is widely upheld as an important conservation initiative by many in the agricultural and environmental communities. The amendment does call upon farmers and ranchers to develop unique conservation plans when seeking to receive Federal crop insurance subsidies on highly erodible lands. I believe this to be a reasonable measure that is consistent with our current conservation policies. It is also important to emphasize that this is not a new idea. In fact, this approach has a long track record of proven results. Conservation compliance was linked with crop insurance in the 1985 farm bill and has been tied to direct payments since 1996. According to a report by the USDA's Economic Research Service: An estimated 295 million tons of erosion reduction per year could be directly attributed to implementation of conservation compliance policy. In addition, conservation compliance has resulted in a significant reduction in the annual loss of wetlands. I believe this is a strategy that has worked.…”