Late last year, the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees developed recommendations for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reduce $23 billion in federal spending on agriculture programs. While the Select Committee was unable to reach agreement on a deficit reduction package, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (MI) has indicated that she will use those recommendations as the starting point for reauthorization of the next Farm Bill. According to the Wildlife Management Institute, it is expected that the Senate will take the lead on the Farm Bill reauthorization process with the House watching for progress in the Senate before initiating their effort. ?The current legislation expires on September 30, 2012.

While the Agriculture Committees' final recommendations to the Select Committee were not released publicly, some conservation partners received an earlier draft that is thought to be close to the final version. In it, the Conservation Title suffers a cut of about 10% or $6 billion dollars. The recommendations reduce the Conservation Reserve Program from 32 to 25 million acres, reauthorize and fund the Voluntary Public Access Program, reauthorize the Conservation Stewardship Program, consolidate the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program with the Environmental Quality Incentives Program into one working lands program with a wildlife focus, and consolidate the existing suite of easement programs - the Wetland Reserve Program, the Grassland Reserve Program, and Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program - into one umbrella easement program.

According to Jen Mock Schaeffer, Agriculture Conservation Policy Analyst for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, "Two items of priority to the conservation community that were not included in the recommendations are the re-coupling of conservation compliance to crop insurance and sodsaver language that would prevent landowners from participating in USDA programs if they choose to plow native prairie lands. To secure these important provisions and hold the funding line at a 10% cut to the Conservation Title will require everyone in the conservation community to work together."

Given the current emphasis for deficit reduction on Capitol Hill, it appears that maintaining effective conservation programs in the next Farm Bill will be a difficult challenge in this reauthorization process.(pmr)