WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans’ just-released farm bill proposal would undermine efforts to advance regenerative agriculture and runs counter to the Make America Healthy Again agenda touted by top Trump administration officials.
Most notably, the bill cuts over $2 billion from two of the nation’s most widely used conservation programs – the Agriculture Department’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, and the Conservation Stewardship Program, or CSP. The programs give farmers and ranchers incentives to implement regenerative agriculture practices on their land.
Last year, MAHA movement leader and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the administration’s MAHA plan, which laid out a clear vision for CSP and EQIP. The plan pointed to efforts aimed at “empowering farmers and keeping solutions voluntary by expanding programs like” the two conservation programs.
Instead, Senate Republicans are joining their House counterparts in committing to cuts in funding for these programs at a time when the popularity of these programs is growing.
In the most recent year for which data is available, only 24% of EQIP applicants and 37% of CSP applicants were awarded contracts. Every state saw a decrease in the number of funded applicants in the past year. That means there are thousands of farmers asking the federal government for help in implementing regenerative agriculture practices who are being turned away.
Congress should expand these vital programs, not cut them.
The Senate farm bill would also block key portions of the USDA’s Regenerative Pilot Program, which aims to prioritize certain regenerative agriculture practices, including cover crops, in national conservation programs. This pilot program is an important step toward improving farm resilience and regenerative agriculture.
But the bill would prevent the department from fully implementing it. Senate Republicans would prevent farmers from taking a “whole farm” approach and would block government funding for soil health testing – meaning farmers and ranchers would not be able to see what progress they are making in improving environmental outcomes.
The bill also fails to adequately restore local school food purchasing programs that connect farmers with nearby schools. These programs provide reliable markets for producers while helping schools serve fresh food to students from nearby farms.
The following is a statement from Geoff Horsfield, legislative director at the Environmental Working Group.
Prioritizing regenerative agriculture practices like cover crops and encouraging farmers to develop whole farm conservation plans are important steps to improving farm resilience. This bill from Senate Republicans fails to support the rare actions taken by the administration to help farmers.
Rather than cut money for these popular programs, Congress must provide more funding to meet the growing backlog of farmer demand for the most effective conservation practices.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
