The Minnesota Farmers Union is making conservation funding a top priority as work continues on the next farm bill.
MFU Vice President Anne Schwagerl says members will continue pressing lawmakers during the August recess to protect funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP.
“Really advocating strongly for the things that we care most about, namely, I want to protect the conservation dollars that are in (the Environmental Quality Incentives Program). Our bread and butter of federal conservation funding, and not rob Peter to pay Paul and move that out into other programs.”
Schwagerl says many farmers, including her own operation, have established long-term EQIP contracts and are making management decisions based on that funding.
“That are long-term, and we’re making real management decisions based on those contracts.”
Schwagerl says another MFU priority for the farm bill is mandatory country-of-origin labeling.
