The American Farmland Trust, the nation's largest organization devoted to farmland protection, calls on Congress to pass the new Farm Bill. The bill includes a number of American Farmland Trust's legislative priorities that will help preserve agricultural land, promote sound farming practices, and help keep farmers on the land.
Among the key positions in the new Farm Bill AFT supports are:
-- An investment of $2 billion in conservation easements, helping limit the loss of our nation's working farms and ranch lands to non-farm uses; and
-- Requiring conservation compliance requirements for federal crop insurance premium assistance. This provision will help protect highly erodible soils and wetlands and provide a safety net for both our nation's farmers and our natural resources.
"For these reasons, the Trust calls upon Congress to promptly pass the pending Farm Bill," said Andrew McElwaine, President and CEO of AFT. "As with any compromise there are pros and cons, but on the whole we congratulate the House and Senate Agriculture Committees for coming together to craft a bill. We look forward to its swift enactment.”
The American Farmland Trust is the nation’s leading conservation organization dedicated to protecting farmland, promoting sound farming practices and keeping farmers on the land.
For more information on the policies and programs of the American Farmland Trust, visit www.farmland.org, follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanFarmland or Twitter www.twitter.com/farmland.