Remarks by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman National Association of Conservation Districts Spring Legislative Conference March 20, 2000 Release No. st05.00 Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman National Association of Conservation Districts Spring Legislative Conference March 20, 2000 "Thank you very much, Rudy Rice, Read Smith, and all of you here today. I also want to congratulate and welcome the new President of the National Association of State Conservation Agencies, Brad Spicer of Louisiana. It's good to see some of the same faces that were in Iowa last December for what I think was a groundbreaking dialogue about private lands conservation, one that I hope we'll build on this year. "For over half a century, the conservation districts have been on the front lines in the battle to protect and preserve the nation's natural resources. The system of decentralized, locally-led conservation has been a resounding success. Grass-roots activism, not top-down federal edict, has been and will continue to be -- the driving force behind sound conservation strategies. Working together, we have proven what so many have doubted for so long...that we can have it both ways...that we can create economic growth and be environmentally responsible at the same time. "I know that Joe Leo, Linda Delgado and Greg Carnill talked to you earlier today about our ongoing modernization effort. Last fall, we committed to sitting down with your leadership to answer questions about the Support Services Bureau. I know that you've had several meetings about this, and there has been some progress. I want to emphasize that the modernization plan is not new. It's the continuation of a process that began early in this Administration. "We are fully committed to ensuring that modernization does not undermine USDA's conservation programs or our technical assistance experts in the field. In fact, this modernization plan will free up money, which can be pumped back into on-the-ground conservation efforts. There's a great commitment in Congress and within the Office of Management and Budget and USDA to modernize our administrative structure. If we didn't do this, many will challenge our total budgets and make it even more difficult to do the work we know needs to be done. With this in mind, I hope that you will help us move forward. This is the best thing for USDA...and the best thing for conservation. "Today is also National Agriculture Day. And I can't think of a better way to recognize it than by talking about the two-way, symbiotic relationship between agriculture and conservation. There's only so much land that we can bring under federal protection. It's up to farmers and all private landowners, with the help of their government, to take the lead in land stewardship. No one understands the land better than our farmers and ranchers, and no one is better positioned to be its chief custodian. "And yet, tremendous conservation challenges remain. The National Resources Inventory we released at the December Summit demonstrated clearly that, for all of our successes, conservation challenges are mounting more quickly than we are responding to them. We need to do more to control erosion on cropland and highly erodible land. Commercial development continues to overrun American farmland. Wetland losses have accelerated. Our cities are losing tree cover at an alarming rate. "My belief is that inadequate federal resources is one of the main reasons we're falling behind. On a per acre basis, we spend five dollars on management of public lands for every one we invest in private land conservation. "The President's new budget is designed to help balance that trend. His safety net proposal includes a far-reaching new farm conservation initiative that would increase farm income even as it promotes environmental stewardship. It calls for a $1.3 billion investment in each of the next two years, about half of which would go toward a new Conservation Security Program. The CSP, as you know, would provide annual payments to farmers and ranchers who implement conservation practices like nutrient management, prescribed grazing, grassed waterways and windbreaks. The more comprehensive a farmer's conservation plan, the larger the payment thus providing financial recognition for good land stewardship. "The safety net proposal would also enhance existing USDA conservation efforts. It would nearly double the dollars available next year for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. It would raise the ceiling on the Conservation Reserve Program to 40 million acres and create incentives for continuous CRP sign-up. And with the demand for enrollment in the Wetlands Reserve Program way above the current cap, we also propose adding more than 200,000 acres a year to that program. "We are also asking Congress to lift the Section 11 cap, which last year kept us from transferring enough money from the Commodity Credit Corporation to NRCS, forcing us to suspend CRP technical assistance. "Last year and this year, we had no new resources for farmland protection, since we spent, in two years, the modest $35 million provided by the 1996 Farm Bill. But the President now proposes a 5-year reauthorization of the Farmland Protection Program at an $65 million a year. The story is similar with the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. The $50 million authorized by the farm bill was quickly used up, leaving the coffers empty for 2000. Now, we want to refill them to the tune of $50 million a year. "The proposed safety net conservation investments alone far exceed the amount of the entire annual NRCS budget. They also are consistent with one of the guiding principles of USDA's conservation philosophy voluntary programs, not compulsory regulations. "The conservation provisions of the safety net proposal are also inclusive. Too often in the past, our assistance has been too narrowly targeted to certain types of producers in certain parts of the country. We want to see more farmers and ranchers -- and more land -- enjoy the benefits of USDA conservation efforts. I think this is critical as we look ahead to 2002, when I hope we can craft a farm bill that is more national in scope, that embraces the entirety of American agriculture in all its diversity. "In fact, I see the entire safety net proposal as a philosophical compass that can chart a course toward the next farm bill. I have some specific principles in mind about what that bill should include, and one of them is that conservation must be a centerpiece of farm policy, not an afterthought. The land is not something that can be replaced like a piece of machinery. We need to respect it above and beyond its arability; we must recognize it for what it is: our most valuable commodity of all. We must hand it to the next generation in as good a shape as we found it. Because they will either live with the consequences of our neglect, or reap the benefits of our stewardship. "Our farm programs have largely been limited to areas in which program crops are grown wheat, corn, rice, oilseeds. We cannot forget or overlook those farmers, but we must also recognize there are hundreds of thousands of farmers and ranchers who raise livestock or grow other types of crops, and they must be a part of the farm safety net of the future. "And we must integrate rural development into farm policy. In today's world, most people in rural America cannot make a decent living in production agriculture alone. I wish they could, but the fact is that many farmers need to supplement their income with off-farm opportunities; often that's the only way for them to stay on the land. So we need a diversified rural economy, one where entrepreneurship can flourish, one with sound physical and information infrastructure. Rural communities must also have the solid tax base, the clean streets, the safe neighborhoods, the good schools, the skilled labor pool everything that would make someone want to bring their family or business to a community. "That's why a new farm policy must highlight new and different ways for farmers to make money and capture a greater share of the consumer dollar. That means promoting farm cooperatives, direct marketing and farmers markets. It means encouraging the use of crops in the production of renewable energy sources. It means providing greater opportunities for farmers in value-added, consumer-ready goods, organics and so on. It means not just "freedom to farm" but freedom to market. And it means government must be there to help ensure that the markets are free and competitive by actively enforcing our anti-trust and price discrimination laws. #