[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10801-S10806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN:
  S. 3223. A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish 
the conservation security program; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry.


                 THE CONSERVATION SECURITY ACT OF 2000

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today, I am reintroducing the Conservation 
Security Act of 2000, a bill which represents a fresh new approach to 
the future of farm policy.
  America's farmers and ranchers hold the key for production of a 
bountiful, safe, and nourishing food supply for Americans and for the 
population around the globe, as well as for the future for our 
environment. Farmers and ranchers have a long history to build on.
  Specifically on the issue of conservation, it became a national 
priority in the days of the Dust Bowl, leading to the creation in the 
1930s of the Soil Conservation Service at the Department of 
Agriculture, which is now the Natural Resources Conservation Service. 
With the very foundation of our food supply at risk, the Government 
stepped forward with billions of dollars in assistance to help farmers 
preserve their precious soils.
  Since that time, Federal spending on conservation has steadily 
declined in inflation adjusted dollars. Yet today agriculture faces a 
wide range of environmental challenges, from overgrazing and manure 
management to cropland runoff and water quality impairment. Urban and 
rural citizens alike are increasingly concerned about the environmental 
impacts of agriculture.
  Farmers and ranchers pride themselves on being good stewards of the 
land, and there are farm-based solutions to these problems being 
implemented all over the country. But every dollar spent on 
constructing a filter strip or developing a nutrient management plan is 
a dollar that farmers don't have for other purposes in hard times like 
these. And even in better times, there is a lot of competition for that 
dollar.
  So who benefits from conservation on farm lands? As much or more than 
the farmer, it is all of us, who depend on the careful stewardship of 
our air, water, soil and our other natural resources. Farmers and 
ranchers tend not only to their crops and animals, but also to our 
nation's natural resources. They are the real stewards for future 
generations.
  Since we all share in these benefits, it is only right that we share 
in conserving them. It is time to enter into a true conservation 
partnership with our farmers and ranchers to help ensure that 
conservation is an integral and permanent part of agricultural 
production nationwide.
  In the 1985 farm bill, we required that farmers who wanted to 
participate in USDA farm programs develop soil conservation plans for 
their highly erodible land. This provision helped put new conservation 
plans in place for our most fragile farmlands. In the most recent farm 
bill, we streamlined conservation programs and established new cost-
share and incentive payments for certain practices.
  The Conservation Security Act of 2000, which establishes the 
Conservation Security Program, builds on our past successes and takes a 
bold step forward in farm and conservation policy.
  My bill would establish a universal and voluntary incentive payment 
program to support and encourage conservation activities by farmers and 
ranchers. Under this program, farmers and ranchers could receive up to 
$50,000 per year in conservation payments through entering into 5 to 
10-year contracts with USDA and choose from one of three tiers of 
conservation practices. Payments are based on the number and types of 
practices they maintain or adopt on their working lands. It is not a 
set-aside or easement program.
  For implementing a basic set of practices, farmers would receive an 
annual payment of up to $20,000, as well as an advance payment of the 
greater of $1,000 or 20% of the annual payment. This basic category, 
Tier I, would include such practices as nutrient management, soil 
conservation, and wildlife habitat management.
  To receive up to $35,000 and an advance payment of the greater of 
$2,000 or 20% of the annual payment, farmers would add to their Class I 
practices by choosing a minimum number of Class II practices--including 
such practices as controlled rotational grazing, partial field 
practices like buffers strips and windbreaks, wetland restoration and 
wildlife habitat enhancement.
  Farmers who adopt comprehensive Tier III conservation practices on 
their whole farm--under a plan that addresses all aspects of air, land, 
water and wildlife--would receive up to $50,000 plus an advance payment 
of the greater of $3,000 or 20% of the annual payment.
  Again, I emphasize, the Conservation Security Program would be 
totally voluntary. It would be up to the farmer or rancher to decide if 
they want to do it. If they do, then they would get additional 
payments. A lot of these practices farmers are already doing now, for 
which they receive little or no support. My legislation changes that by 
rewarding those farmers and ranchers who have already implemented these 
practices through payments to maintain them.
  Again, these practices don't just benefit the farmer or rancher. The 
beneficiaries are all of us. We all will benefit from cleaner air, 
cleaner streams and rivers, saving soil, protecting our groundwater, 
and wildlife habitats.

[[Page S10806]]

  Our private lands are a national resource, and conservation on farm 
and ranchlands provides environmental benefits that are just as 
important as the production of abundant and safe food. I am introducing 
the Conservation Security Act because I believe it will help secure 
both the economic future of our farmers by helping them obtain better 
income and as a cornerstone of our national farm policy and the 
environmental future of agriculture.
                                 ______