The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee approved their version of the 2012 Farm Bill on April 26, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. In an attempt to address federal deficit reduction, a number of changes to current agriculture programs were incorporated in the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 including consolidation of 23 conservation programs into 13.

The legislation incorporates the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and continues the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Program. Four easement programs, including the Wetland Reserve Program, are consolidated into one program in the bill. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) would be continued but with a lower acreage cap of 25 million acres from its current 32 million acre cap. ?Overall, the bill provides for $23 billion in deficit reduction, with $6 billion coming from the various conservation programs.

"We were very pleased to see strong conservation language in the Farm Bill that passed out of the Senate Ag Committee under Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Pat Robert's leadership," Pheasants Forever commented in a statement. "The strong, bi-partisan support for a bill that included provisions to help protect critical native prairies, provide access to sportsmen and address a strong suite of conservation programs, while reducing the overall federal budget were all positive signs as the 2012 Farm Bill process moves forward."

An amendment to Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow's original?draft of the bill was adopted that provides for limited crop insurance benefits and subsidy premiums to crops grown on lands that are converted from native grasslands. Many in the conservation community were happy to see this version of "Sodsaver" included in the legislation, but were disappointed that conservation compliance in the form of erosion control and wetlands protection was not made a requirement for participation in the crop insurance subsidy program.

The current farm legislation expires on September 30, 2012. Next steps for the new Farm Bill will be consideration of the legislation by the entire Senate, which Chairwoman Stabenow said she expected to occur within a few weeks, and action on the bill in the House Agriculture Committee. The House Committee just recently began holding hearings on farm policy and has yet to release its version of the legislation.

Clearly, there are a number of opportunities remaining for adjustments, both good and bad, to the conservation programs addressed in the bill. ?The Senate Committee provides a summary of the bill on their website. ?(pmr)