Advocating for strong environmental policies

American Farmland Trust has nearly 30 years of experience advocating for strong conservation and farmland protection policies at the national, state and local level. We'll build on this experience to advance policies that engage agriculture and acknowledge the important role they have to play in protecting our valuable natural resources and curbing climate change.

Developing Climate Change Policies

We are actively working to engage agricultural leaders and other stakeholders in the development of climate change legislation to maximize the participation of farmers and ranchers in reducing greenhouse gases. We will ensure that land use and changes in farming practices are part of the solutions in any federal climate change program.

Policies without the buy-in and support of agriculture will be difficult to implement. We're engaging farmers, agriculture leaders, federal agencies and other environmental organizations in national and regional workshops, summits, and listening sessions. We will uncover critical issues affecting agriculture and develop policy recommendations that involve agriculture in solutions to our pressing environmental challenges.

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Implementing the 2008 Farm Bill

The new farm bill contains a number of programs to assist farmers in reducing air and water pollution and apply conservation practices on their land. The new Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program will help limit the total number of subsidies a farmer can receive thereby reducing incentives to overproduce and damage the environment.

To assure that these programs are available where they are most needed and their intent is not changed, AFT will play an active role in getting farmer input into the rules and providing analysis to USDA staff and others stakeholders. We will also participate in the appropriations process to make sure funding is available for important programs that affect the quality of our air, water, land and wildlife habitat.

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Affecting Water Quality Legislation

AFT is working with agriculture leaders to develop legislative solutions that encourage the widespread adoption of conservation practices. In future legislation we can help forge solutions that work for farmers and make significant progress toward improving our nation's water quality. In the future, our federal focus on water will be aimed at developing policy proposals and engaging stakeholders.

Within the Agriculture & Environment Initiative, we will be working at the state and national level, developing policies to support innovative ecosystems services trading markets that will pay farmers for the environmental benefits they produce on their land.

Water quality trading markets have the potential to reduce nutrients in key watersheds across the United States at a fraction of the cost of other remediation techniques. Policies can help incentivize these private markets and support conservation practices that result in the greatest public benefit. To demonstrate the potential of these emerging markets, we are targeting our demonstration projects in regions where they will have the most significant impact and are working with policymakers to develop programs that encourage agriculture's participation in water quality improvement strategies.

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