This past February something significant happened in Washington D.C. President Obama signed and passed the Agriculture Act of 2014, or better known as the 2014 Farm Bill. Some general information about the Farm Bill that people are always talking about is a new one gets passed about every 5 years, give or take a couple years. It primarily acts as the federal governments laws regarding agricultural practices, food, and natural resource policies. Just to give you some numbers, the federal government has authorized the spending of $956 billion over the next 10 years after enacting the bill (USDA).
Now that you have a little background information about what the Farm Bill is all about, I want to talk about how this bill affects people in Natural Resource Management (NRM). From what I have read on the internet, heard on the radio, and have discussed in my classes is that the 2014 Farm Bill is a victory for conservationists. This is great news for NRM people. However, it's not so great news for some farmers. Farming practices have changed drastically over the past 50 years due to better farming technology and intensive seed research which resulted in increased crop yields. Land that wasn't able to be farmed 50 years ago is now able to be farmed. Because of these more efficient farming practices and the demand of food always rising, more and more "natural land" is being used for agriculture. This is soon going to change.
This new 2014 Farm Bill is going to give the farmer more incentive to have natural grasses on their land or make it harder for them to turn that natural land into agricultural use. I'm sure you’re asking, "Why does it matter if there's natural grass or crops on the land?" Well to be clear and concise, hundreds of species rely on these natural grasses for their habitat and natural breeding grounds. Also, by cropping this land you are manipulating natural drainage patterns into wetlands, rivers, lakes, and consequently increasing erosion and water runoff which increases flood severity. Reduction of natural land due to cropping has numerous negative side effects (good ones too) on the areas watershed and hydrology. So with this new bill, it gives farmers incentive to take those factors into consideration and if they don't they may suffer consequences. These consequences could be as little as a petty fine or worse off, not qualify for government subsidies or crop insurance. If you didn't know, farmers rely heavily on government subsidies and crop insurance.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the next few years. This bill is going to require farmers to take on new perspectives when thinking of ways they are going to manage their land. The farmer's main goal is to produce as much crop as he can so he can get paid and provide for his family. The conservationist main goal is to preserve the natural environment. People involved with managing natural resources and farmers are going to have to work together in order for success to be an outcome for both parties.
Click Here for a link to a great article by the Associated Press talking about the conservationist side of the new 2014 Farm Bill.
Thanks for reading and have a great day,
Corey Bjoralt
You did a good job of exploring the topic while staying unbiased. You were able to properly explain the pros and cons of the bill to the average person, and that really helped to keep my attention. I would like to offer up some constructive criticism on the font choice though - it is hard for me personally to focus on the text. This might just be a personal thing, but for some reason it distracts me.
ReplyDeleteGreat job though!
I loved the introduction and explanation of the farm bill. It's something many have heard of but few understand. Beyond that, your analysis of the pros and cons was good as well. The font choice could be better, though. Perhaps something more conventional and easier to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other two about the font as well. I found this very interesting since I am a daughter of a farmer who believes in preserving natural grasses. My dad actually has quite a few acres of CRP that were originally used as farm land before he bought them. Also when you buy crop insurance there are certain rules you have to follow, such as--if it is a windy area you have to leave so much natural grass around the edges, and so much "trash" on top of the soil when you plow it so that it doesn't get blown all over the area. This being said, I know there are some farmers in the area who will chop down every tree grove on their field so that they can raise more crops.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you stayed unbias over the topic as well.
I also wouldn't say that farmers rely heavily on subsidies--that might be a bit on an exaggeration....some might, but not all of them do. (:
Lots of information in the post to explain the Bill. Good job providing background too. I liked the post. It was cool to read about something that isn't Engineering related because I sometimes forget about other areas of study. This post was informative. I hope you have a nice day!
ReplyDeleteBeing from a farming/ranching background this will inevitably effect us. Since we don't have crop insurance we usually leave a row of natural plant life periodically for our way of "insuring" top soil and hopefully extra hydration! But great way to explain the bill. I also like how you put in a chart to show the differences within the bill(:
ReplyDeleteThis was a very informative post. As an avid hunter, ranch hand, and Game & Fish worker I hadn't heard anything about this post. It will be interesting to see how much land is turned back to grassland and how much farmland this takes away from farmers. I'll definitely be looking into this bill.
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