Conservation Compliance

Safeguarding Environmentally Sensitive Land

The farm bill represents the most significant opportunity to drive progress toward conservation goals. Indeed, over the past decades, farm bill programs have helped countless farmers and ranchers become more productive while lessening their impact on the landscape.

Conservation compliance is a simple, effective program that links public support for farmers with public environmental benefits. However, proposed changes in the farm support system threaten to greatly diminish or even eliminate this highly successful conservation program.

Conservation compliance must be maintained, modernized and strengthened. Regardless of how the farm safety net is structured, compliance must continue to be linked to farm support benefits. The conservation compliance system must reflect modern-day farm technology while shifting enforcement from the local to state level, creating greater efficiencies. Persistent environmental challenges, particularly the loss of native grasslands to crop production, must also be addressed by fully protecting the most environmentally critical landscapes.