It?s not an easy time to write a new farm bill, with little new money after the debt limit-budget deal, a dwindling legislative clock, and a hyper-partisan Congress before a presidential election year.
That?s not stopping the National Cattlemen?s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall from pursuing priorities, though notably not stressing spending increases.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides conservation financial assistance for working lands. Rather than take land out of production, EQIP helps farmers maintain or improve production while conserving natural resources. EQIP assistance is available for all types of agricultural operations, including field crops, specialty crops, organic, confined livestock and grazing, and private non-industrial forest land.
Woodall on a recent NCBA ?Beltway Beef? podcast, says USDA research at the Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska and at land grant universities is key to foreign animal disease protection. And Woodall sees another opportunity in the farm bill.
The value of which Woodall says, was driven home during the pandemic, when smaller producers needed an effective tool to manage risk and didn?t have one. Woodall says LRP is that tool.
