Ducks Unlimited looks forward to working with House for vote of passage
WASHINGTON – May 16, 2013 – The House Agriculture Committee marked up and reported out to the House floor their 2013 Farm Bill today, with a 36-10 vote. “While Ducks Unlimited advocated more robust conservation provisions in the House Committee bill, we appreciate Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson’s work on moving the bill out of committee,” said DU CEO Dale Hall. “This is a step in the right direction and we look forward to working with the full House on a final vote of passage to get a five-year farm bill into conference with the Senate.”
The House bill includes a regional Sodsaver provision, applying only to the Prairie Pothole Region states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. The Senate farm bill’s Sodsaver program would apply nationally. Both programs would reduce federal subsidy on any new cropland acres put into production as a result of breaking grassland that had no previous cropping history.
A joint proposal from agriculture and conservation groups to re-couple conservation compliance to crop insurance was not included in the House farm bill.
More than 70 percent of the nation’s native grasslands and 50 percent of wetlands have already been lost. The rate of loss has been accelerated by unintended consequences of current agriculture policy and advanced technology.
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org. Connect with us on our Facebook page at facebook.com/DucksUnlimited, follow our tweets at twitter.com/DucksUnlimited and watch DU videos at youtube.com/DucksUnlimitedInc.