Conservation compliance establishes a reasonable baseline of stewardship that farmers must meet to be eligible for nearly all federal farm programs, including direct payments, disaster pay-ments, marketing loans and conservation title programs. If farm-ers do not take these basic steps they risk losing eligibility for a variety of federal farm supports.

Conservation compliance is comprised of two provisions:

• Wetlands Conservation: which discourages the conversion of wetlands to croplands

• Soil Conservation: which requires farmers to adhere to a conser-vation plan for farmed acres that qualify as highly erodible.

Since 1996, however, conservation compliance has not applied to the federal crop insurance program, which now comprises the largest subsidy to America’s farmers and is an increasingly important and popular component of the nation’s farm safety net. In the 2011 crop year, 264 million acres were covered by crop insurance, at a cost of $7.4 billion in premium subsidies to American taxpayers.

Crop insurance guarantees a revenue level for every insured acre, whether or not that acre is fit for crop production, therefore incentivizing the conversion and maintenance of even the most sensitive acres as cropland. In essence, farmers could be receiving taxpayer funds for impairing water quality, con-verting economically important fish and wildlife habitat to cropland and increasing the risk of flooding.

Crop insurance represents a significant investment by American taxpayers in ensuring a reliable food supply and protecting the economic viability of our nation’s farmers. However, without re-coupling crop insurance with conservation compliance, the public

itself may be exposed to the risk of harmful farming practices that cost even more to correct in the long run.

Conservation compliance is not onerous; in fact, many farmers already are meeting compliance standards for a host of federal farm programs. By utilizing new technologies and proven prac-tices farmers can readily achieve conservation compliance, as well as their production goals.

USDA estimates that the current conservation compliance framework has reduced erosion by 295 million tons over approx-imately 10 years. USDA also estimates that without compliance requirements, 7 to 14 million acres of highly erodible land and 1.5 to 3.3 million acres of wetlands not currently being farmed could be plowed into production.

Re-linking crop insurance and conservation compliance is an es-sential need for the 2013 Farm Bill.

For more information contact

Steve KlineDirector of the Center for Private LandsTheodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnershipskline@trcp.org202-639-8727

2013 FARM BILL

FACT SHEET

Reconnecting Conservation Compliance and Crop InsuranceSustaining Resources. Protecting Taxpayers.

Erosion

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www.trcp.org

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