Washington, D.C., December 18, 2007—“American Farmland Trust (AFT) applauds the inclusion of a larger Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in the energy bill President Bush will sign tomorrow, which encourages greater production of home-grown fuels,” says Ralph Grossi, President of AFT, “but we strongly believe more must be done to ensure that biofuels production does not harm our water, air, soil and wildlife resources.”

An important complement to the Renewable Fuel Standard will come in another piece of legislation under consideration in Congress—the farm bill. “Congress worked to include safeguards in the energy legislation that are a good starting point, however the government has now provided incentives for farmers to convert more farmland into energy production,” Grossi adds. “We must couple the incentives with increased support for conservation and farmland protection in the farm bill as that legislation goes to the conference committee.” 

Grossi points to farm bill conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Security Program (CSP) that help farmers change production practices to protect water and improve environmental quality; and the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) that ensures that valuable working lands are protected from development in order to continue the production of food, fiber and bio-energy.

“AFT urges Congress and the Administration to complement the safeguards in the RFS by supporting strong funding increases for the already over-subscribed conservation and farmland protection programs in the farm bill,” Grossi adds.

“AFT is pleased that the energy bill promotes energy efficiency and discourages waste. Reducing consumption of all forms of energy will reduce pressures on working lands. In addition, the advanced fuels component of the RFS will help development of the next generation of environmentally-friendly biofuels,” said Grossi.

“There is great potential in renewable fuels environmentally, economically and to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign energy. But we must be mindful that America’s working farmland is an irreplaceable strategic resource providing a variety of public benefits— food, fiber, cleaner water, open space, and wildlife habitat. We must do everything in our power to ensure that we protect the health of that land for the future as Congress and the administration work to complete the farm bill.”

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