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State and local farmland protection programs need help. In addition to producing food and fiber, agricultural land offers habitat for wildlife, sanctuary for wetlands, a filter for stormwater runoff and the backdrop for tourism and scenic open space. Farmland serves as the fabric-holding together countless rural communities. And finally, farmland — retained in a significant block — provides a natural buffer between conflicting land uses.
This year, as the 1995 Farm Bill wends its way through Congress, we have an unparalleled opportunity to fund and fully implement Farms for the Future. Approved as part of the 1990 Farm Bill, FFA authorizes federal support for state and local farmland protection programs. Unfortunately, FFA has been inadequately funded and administratively handicapped.
Since 1990, Congress has invested only $10 million on state and local farmland protection assistance — 200 times less than it spends each year on soil conservation programs and only a fraction of the $12 billion spent annually on farm support programs. Yet, each year in the United States as much topsoil is covered with pavement as is lost to erosion. * If Congress diverted just three days worth of federal farm subsidies to farmland protection, it could shore up Farms for the Future with $60 million in matching grants, enough to match current state funds and halve the time farmers must wait to enroll land in protection programs.
Another possible funding source is the Conservation Reserve Program.
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