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May 11, 2012
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a new initiative to protect and restore water quality in rural areas across the United States. Meanwhile, the House and Senate are considering biomass energy and conservation provisions for the next Farm Bill. Conservation biomass production can be an important part of the answer to the nation’s energy security and water pollution challenges. Will Congress and the USDA put sustainable biomass for energy and conservation together?
On May 8, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the launch of a new National Water Quality Initiative "committed to improving one to seven impaired watersheds in every U.S. state and territory. The 157 selected watersheds were identified with assistance from state agencies, key partners, and NRCS State Technical Committees. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will make available at least $33 million in financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners this year to implement conservation practices to help provide cleaner water for their neighbors and communities."
This is an urgently needed initiative from the standpoint of protecting and restoring the nation’s water quality. But is it enough? Enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has been declining in recent years because of soaring prices for agricultural commodities. Contracts are expiring for millions of acres of CRP land over the next year. Many contracts will not be renewed. As a consequence, a wide range of environmental benefits that are now provided by CRP lands – from wildlife habitats, to soil and water conservation, water pollution prevention, biological diversity, and capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in soils and plants - will be lost. This, while corn production for feed and fuel, which can have a particularly large impact on water quality , is surging by millions of acres this year.
Is there another way that agricultural producers can produce both additional income from marginal lands and the sustainable, renewable energy and environmental services that the nation needs? Conservation biomass production – as part of multifunctional agricultural systems – could be part of the answer. Low-input, native, perennial biomass crops, planted strategically across landscapes, can provide new sources of revenue for farmers while also providing new sources of sustainable, renewable energy and multiple environmental benefits. The environmental impact of corn and other annual row crops could be reduced significantly by integrating the production of perennial biomass crops in marginal areas.
To learn more, check out these recent EESI briefings:
Now is the time to incorporate innovations such as these into federal agriculture policies. The Senate Farm Bill is expected to come to the floor for debate soon, and the House Committee on Agriculture is still holding hearings and developing its own version. On May 18, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forests , will hold a hearing on the energy and forestry programs in the Farm Bill.
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