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CSP isn't dead...it's the law Tuesday, September 2, 2003
There has been a lot of talk this summer about whether the Conservation Security Program will be implemented. Some people think the program is dead, but it is not. It just needs a good push by our congressional leaders to get the program rolling.
This new program, written into law and signed by President Bush in the 2002 farm bill, will benefit farmers who have an interest in conserving the soil, water, and wildlife resources on their lands.
The program rules for the CSP have been written by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and sent to the Office of Management and Budget for the final signoff.
Unfortunately, the administration has been dragging its feet on implementation in case the efforts by the House of Representatives to kill the program will prevail in the budget appropriations process.
In September, the Senate will tackle its fiscal 2004 appropriations budget. Last month, speaking at the farm policy forum at Farmfest in Redwood Falls, both of Minnesota's senators -- Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman -- told farmers that they would support funding for the Conservation Security Program when they return to Washington.
Dayton has always been a strong supporter of the Conservation Security Program, but it was also good to hear Coleman tell the farmers that he, too, will do all he can to support the funding and implementation of this comprehensive conservation program. We know Sens. Harkin and Grassley from Iowa are also working for CSP.
At that same Farmfest forum, Congressman Gil Gutknecht stated that he didn't want to compromise EQIP or CRP for the CSP. Although he said he liked the CSP, he seemed reluctant to fight for its survival. He conceded that it might get "lost in the (appropriations) shuffle."
Gutknecht doesn't have to compromise EQIP, CRP, or the Conservation Security Program. Because he represents southern Minnesota's farmers, from the Mississippi River to the South Dakota border, he can, and should, support all three conservation programs. They are all the "law of the land," and should be supported and defended by our farm belt congressmen.
Unfortunately, Iowa Rep. Tom Latham, who sits on the House Subcommittee on Agricultural Appropriations, voted to eliminate funding for the CSP. Iowa farmers should let him know they need this program.
When the House tried to kill the CSP in the earlier farm bill debate, the Senate held firm under the leadership of Harkin, who, as then-chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, pushed to have CSP written into law.
Now the Senate must hold firm against the House attack on CSP funding. Thankfully, Minnesota has two senators who know that the Conservation Security Program will benefit Minnesota's farmers.
Gutknecht, working together with Congressman Colin Peterson, can influence the House negotiators on the conference committee so that Minnesota farmers can have the CSP, as well as every other conservation tool that is written into law.
Likewise, farmers can help assure that they will have the CSP in their toolbox by letting their congressional representatives know that this program is important.
Let them know, now, while they are at home for the August recess, that when they get back to Washington this month they need to fight for what rightfully belongs to all farmers by law -- hard won in the farm bill of 2002.
-- Mike McGrath, The Minnesota Project, Lanesboro, Minn. |
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