Columns
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
conservation helps iowa farmers "hold the raindrop where it falls"
Iowa farmers have always been good stewards of the land. In using sound conservation practices – many of which are on working lands – we have seen less soil erosion, reduced flooding, improved air quality and increased wildlife habitat in our state. While the benefits of these practices have long been known, they became more apparent in the wake of recent flooding and excessive rainfall.
Flying over Iowa in a small plane in the past few weeks, I could see and photograph the dramatic benefits of sound agricultural conservation practices. Buffer strips, grassed waterways, no-till or minimum-till farming, and wetlands helped to keep topsoil in place, filter sediment and hold back water. By contrast, many bare black fields with little or no conservation measures in place had obvious erosion of topsoil from the rains and flooding, with water pouring off fields and taking our precious Iowa topsoil with it.
Our state’s experience over the past month is a strong endorsement for the future conservation investments we wrote into the new farm bill – the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. As former Des Moines Register cartoonist Ding Darling, a renowned conservationist, would say: “Hold the raindrop where it falls.” We must do more in every state to accomplish that, so accessibility to farm programs, including federally subsidized crop insurance and disaster programs, must be based on meeting high standards of conservation. Incentive payments like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) provide help in meeting those standards.
Iowa also needs resources to restore land and rebuild conservation practices damaged by the disaster. To help remove debris and restore land to productivity, and to repair levees, terraces, waterways and other conservation practices, I worked successfully to secure funding in the just-passed appropriations measure. For the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP), which is administered by NRCS, we provided $390 million. For the Emergency Conservation Program, carried out by the Farm Service Agency, the bill includes $89 million. That total of $479 million is a critical first step toward restoring and repairing land and conservation structures, but undoubtedly more will be needed. As further damage assessments come in, I will be seeking the additional emergency conservation assistance that is critically needed.
This year’s disaster proves that conservation applied today will help farmers maintain the productivity of their land and reduce the harmful effects of future disastrous weather tomorrow and long into the future.
