This story is from our partner Talk Business & Politics.
Congressional leaders are determined to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in conservation funding for farmers and if the cuts go through, producers in the Natural State could lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
Arkansas could lose $665 million in conservation funding, according to an analysis of NRCS data conducted by Jonathan Coppess, director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It would be the second most lost by any state trailing only Texas.
“For farmers like me, all we want to do is take care of our farms and take care of our families, so we can keep growing the food, fuel and fiber that so many of our fellow Americans depend on,” said farmer Jared Phillips of Prairie Grove. “Cutting conservation funding at a time when we’re already dealing with so much uncertainty isn’t the answer. These funds help us make valuable improvements that protect our land against extreme weather while also boosting our business. It’s a win-win all the way around, and I hope our leaders don’t take these valuable tools away when we need them most.”
Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives tasked the Agriculture Committee with finding $230 billion in spending cuts through 2031. Reducing conservation funding could be a part of those deep spending cuts.
Invest in Our Land, an organization that focuses on farmers and farm policy, is sharing a new interactive map that reveals how much money farmers in every state stand to lose if Congress follows through on plans to cut current funding levels for agriculture conservation. The map was developed based on Coppess’s analysis.
If the cuts are made, Arkansas farmers will lose $142 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and $266 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) during the next six years. About $161 million from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) will also be lost, along with $95 million from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), according to Invest in Our Land.
Congressional leaders in the House and Senate are still ironing out details of the latest federal budget.
