Save Local, Regenerative & Organic! USDA Must Honor Farmer Contracts!

Congress took action to save the climate with regenerative organic agriculture back in the 2008 Farm Bill, with the creation of the Conservation Stewardship Program, which zeroes in on the best way to draw excess carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere: helping farmers and ranchers improve soil health.

The Conservation Stewardship Program could help every farmer adopt “climate-smart” regenerative organic agriculture practices—if Congress fully funded it.

At its height, the Conservation Stewardship Program enrolled 72 million acres—about 7 percent of all working lands in the U.S., including crop, forest, pasture and range land, but the program never reached its full potential. More than three out of four farmers who want to participate in the Conservation Stewardship Program are closed out. Things got worse when the 2018 Farm Bill severely reduced Conservation Stewardship Act funding.

Congress got back on the right track with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, restored investments in the Conservation Stewardship Program to increase the amount of carbon stored in working lands by about 70 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent per year by 2030. Agriculture is responsible for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions in the range of 700 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent per year. So, we’re talking 10 percent of 10 percent or 1 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It seems small, but that’s the equivalent of taking about 16 million cars off the road. If that figure were quadrupled, which it easily could be given that 4 times as many farmers have tried to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program, it would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent—the same as taking 64 million cars off the road.

Increasing Conservation Stewardship Program spending is worth it just for the climate, but higher soil carbon also increases yields and makes food more nutritious.

Congress should quadruple funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program in the new Farm Bill, and while it’s at it, Congress should tighten up eligibility requirements.

Right now, a significant chunk of Conservation Stewardship Program payments reward greenhouse gas polluting industrial farmers who use synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides for what Bayer and the other agrochemical companies market as “precision agriculture.” What it amounts to is adjusting the nozzles on their sprayers to make sure they use the “right” amount of toxins—with no promise they’ll use any less! Conservation Stewardship Program money shouldn’t go to this kind of useless nozzle adjustment.

 More than 800 MILLION pounds of pesticides are used to grow our food in the U.S. every year, and most of these pesticides are TOXIC to human health. Decades of data links the pesticides widely used in conventional agriculture to cancer, reproductive toxicity, birth defects, asthma, endocrine disruption, and more.  

And the worst part? Children and infants in utero are the most vulnerable to the impacts of pesticide exposure, because their brains and bodies are developing so rapidly. Early exposure can impact children for life.  

Organic farming is an important alternative -- more than 900 synthetic pesticides allowed in conventional agriculture are banned in organic.

Recently, Congress DEFUNDED key programs to support organic farming! Without federal support, it’s difficult for small organic farms to compete with industrial, chemical-dependent farms. And if Congress or USDA decide to slash funding or cut staff from the National Organic Program, the entire organic market could collapse – disastrously increasing our exposure to pesticides. 

Research shows that an organic diet rapidly and dramatically reduces our exposure to toxic pesticides. One study found that just one week on a fully organic diet can reduce pesticide levels in your body by up to 95%! Organic farming also helps protect the farmers who grow our nation’s food and rural communities where food is grown from toxic exposure.  

Organic farming is regenerative. The same toxic pesticides that threaten us also harm soil organisms and pollinators like bees and butterflies. In fact, over the past few decades, U.S. agriculture has become 48x MORE TOXIC to bees and other insects! By not using toxic pesticides, organic farmers build healthy soils and protect pollinators, maintaining the web of life that is the foundation of regenerative agriculture and a stable food supply.  

Despite all these benefits of organic farming, Congress defunded key organic programs! And the National Organic Program could be next! Tell your Senators and Representatives: RESTORE funding for organic farming programs and fight for organic farming.  

TAKE ACTION! Save Local, Regenerative & Organic! USDA Must Honor Farmer Contracts!