"Federal conservation programs are supposed to distribute taxpayer dollars to farmers who use practices that improve water quality, build soil health, and preserve and restore ecosystems. But a portion of the funding supports practices that some say fail to deliver on those goals.
Take the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)—the most popular farm bill conservation program. Some farmers use funding they receive through the program to build high tunnels for organic vegetables, plant cover crops, and put up fencing to practice rotational grazing to improve soil health. But many never receive the money they request. In fact, two-thirds of EQIP applications are rejected due to limited funds.
And according to a new report from the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP), one reason is that significant chunks of money are being spent to fund conventional farming practices that fall far short of qualifying as conservation.
“At the same time that farmers are getting rejected, there are these large contracts that are going to more polluting operations, to industrial practices that are antithetical to EQIP’s original intent,” said Michael Happ, the program associate for climate and rural communities at IATP and author of the report."
Lisa Held reports for Civil Eats April 19, 2022.
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