Ecosystem Services and the Farm Bill
The Farm Bill governs federal farm, food, and conservation policy and is renewed every five years. 
The last Farm Bill, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, underwent a series of extensions while Congress debated a new bill. On June 18, 2008, Congress overrode the President's veto on 2007 Farm Bill legislation, enacting the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (PDF, 1.4 MB) into law. The new Farm Bill includes fifteen titles: commodity programs, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture and organic agriculture, livestock, crop insurance and disaster assistance, commodity futures, miscellaneous provisions, and trade and tax provisions.
The new Farm Bill takes a first step towards facilitating landowner participation in emerging markets for ecosystem services. Section 2709 of the conservation title requires USDA, in consultation with other agencies and interests, to "establish technical guidelines that measure the environmental services benefits from conservation and land management activities." These guidelines will be used in the development of measurement and reporting protocols and registries. Section 2709 also calls for a verification process and guidelines for reported conservation and land management activities.
Read Section 2709: Environmental Services Markets (
PDF, 17 KB)
Read the 2007 Farm Bill Theme Paper on Conservation and the Environment ( PDF, 0.7 MB) and the Executive Summary ( PDF, 144 KB)
| January 31, 2007 | USDA Secretary submits 2007 Farm Bill proposals |
| July 27, 2007 | U.S. House of Representatives passes House version of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) |
| December 14, 2007 | U.S. Senate passes Senate version |
| May 14-15, 2008 | Farm Bill Conference Report (PDF, 1.4 MB) (H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) passes House and Senate |
| May 20, 2008 | Congress sends H.R. 2419 to President Bush |
| May 21, 2008 | President Bush vetoes H.R. 2419 Read Presidential Farm Bill Veto Message... |
| May 22, 2008 | House and Senate pass H.R. 2419 over veto, enacting 14 of 15 Farm Bill titles into law (P.L. 110-234). House passes H.R. 6124, a new bill containing 15 Farm Bill titles |
| June 18, 2008 | House and Senate pass H.R. 6124, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, enacting the complete Farm Bill into law. |
Helpful Links
Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/farmbill.shtml
Updated: September 25, 2008 2:28 PM