Rewarding farmers as 'stewards'

Wed Nov 15 08:44:13 PST 2000

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Headline:  Rewarding farmers as 'stewards'
Byline:  Allen Olson
Date: 11/14/2000
(BISMARK, N.D.)Election-year politics and a persistent farm crisis have 
elevated
national discussion of farm policy to a level not seen since drought,
debt, and low prices struck America's heartland in the 1980s.

This year's multibillion-dollar emergency-spending bills for
agriculture only intensified an ongoing battle in Congress, where
opponents of traditional farm subsidies squared off against supporters
of an expanded federal safety net for farmers and ranchers.

Soon, the new president and Congress will begin preparations for the
2002 farm bill, the most important opportunity in a decade for major
reform of agriculture policy.

One proposal on the table, the Farmland Stewardship Initiative, could
unite warring factions in Washington by building a stronger safety net
for our nation's farmers, while providing many benefits for the
tax-paying public.

Instead of paying farmers and ranchers to produce (or not produce)
particular commodities, they would be paid for land-management
practices that reduce flooding, improve water quality, enhance
conservation, promote local recreation and tourism, and reduce the
buildup of greenhouse gases.

FSI emerged in response to years of repeated and devastating flood
losses in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and the Canadian province of
Manitoba. Faced with billions of dollars in damage, the US Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Manitoba launched the
International Flood Mitigation Initiative (IFMI) to develop basin-wide
strategies to deal with future floods.

IFMI formed a working group of government, agriculture, and
conservation interests to identify ways to foster flood mitigation on
private lands. Following the conclusion of their efforts last year, the
group presented the Farmland Stewardship Initiative to Congress and
FEMA.

FSI starts with the premise that farms and ranches produce much more
than food, fuel, and fiber. They also provide land-stewardship services
- flood mitigation, protection of water quality, management of wildlife
habitat and biodiversity, outdoor recreation, and tourism, to name a
few. These services benefit all Americans, yet the market undervalues
such services. As a result, agricultural commodities are in surplus,
while producers' essential services of land stewardship are in deficit.
FSI would compensate farmers and ranchers directly for their
stewardship of private lands.

Given limited federal discretionary spending and diminishing public
support for farm subsidies, the initiative optimizes taxpayer dollars.
FSI would support practices that store, slow, or absorb water on the
land to help reduce flood damages downstream. These include no-till
production, restoration of grasslands, wetlands, woodlands and riparian
areas, and construction of small-scale water-storage and retention
areas.

FSI's benefits would not end with flood-damage reduction. Measures that
manage runoff from snowmelt and rainfall also improve water quality,
reduce soil erosion, conserve habitat, and create local recreation,
tourism, and economic development opportunities. They can even enhance
the capacity of soils and woodlands to capture carbon that would
otherwise add to greenhouse gases.

To prevent the adverse economic impact on farm communities of taking
good land out of production, the initative targets unproductive and
flood-prone land first. FSI would pay farmers who voluntarily place
marginal, unprofitable land into alternative uses such as wetlands,
woodlands, or grasslands.

Farmers could then focus time and resources on their most productive
farmland. This approach, known as multifunctional or conservation
agriculture, provides producers and the public with a better return on
investment.

Federal farm programs have evolved into a complex patchwork of
overlapping and often conflicting objectives and requirements.

This alphabet soup of programs increases costs and administrative
burdens, and creates unnecessary confusion and paperwork for the
producer. It also makes it difficult to tackle problems like flooding
which extend beyond individual farm and ranch operations.

FSI would therefore test a watershed approach for cooperating farmers
and ranchers. It would also reduce complexity and increase flexibility
through "one-stop shopping," combining multiple programs into a single
plan for the producer.

FSI can serve as a model for the 2002 farm bill. FEMA Director James
Lee Witt and a bipartisan group of seven senators have recognized FSI's
potential to shape national agricultural, disaster, and conservation
policy and have lent their support.

FSI marries sound public policy with smart politics. By linking federal
payments to services that benefit the whole tax-paying public, FSI can
build a political constituency among suburban Americans who look to
rural areas for recreation, open space, and other amenities.

FSI can also transform a landscape that now helps feed the world into
one that also reduces flood damages, safeguards environmental quality,
increases recreation and tourism opportunities, and reduces the risk of
climate change.

  Allen Olson, a former Republican governor of North Dakota, serves on
the International Flood Mitigation Initiative. Brad Crabtree is program
coordinator of the Consensus Council, which facilitated development of
the Farmland Stewardship Initiative.

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