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25 all comes to Washington, D.C., slowly. The days lengthen, the leaves start to drop, just a few at first; the morning air feels a little cooler. And Congress comes back from its summer recess. But it's not business as usual this year. Not after September 11. Policy that was being debated before that day has been pushed aside while the nation turns to more pressing issues. But gradually, Congress will renew its efforts on work such as the farm bill, and American Farmland Trust hopes to shape the new thinking on federal farm policy with the help of a national poll of voters. EVERY FIVE YEARS, Congress turns its attention to the state of American agriculture. It puts together what is known as the farm bill, defining and setting funding levels for a wide array of programs from commodity sup- ports and trade policy to conservation, re- search and education. This tradition began during the Depression, when farm incomes sank and the food supply appeared in jeopardy. Today's programs are monumental in scope and scale: Just last year, spending on agricultural programs soared to $32 billion for the year. Conservation programs —those projects and departments whose focus is on protecting the environment and wildlife —are allocated just a fraction of that spending, clocking in at about 8 per- cent of last year's spending. Conservation efforts connected to agriculture started way back in 1935 with the creation of the Soil Conservation Service to help prevent another Dust Bowl of soil erosion. Now, the six major programs that exist to protect wildlife and wetlands, to control soil erosion and to save farmland from development are increasingly popular with farmers. Some attribute that popularity to a realization among landowners that what these programs actually do is com- pensate farmers and ranchers for the public benefits that flow from their lands. It is the surrounding communities that enjoy the benefits of cleaner water and air, wildlife habitat and green open space. Yet as Ralph Grossi, presi- dent of AFT, pointed out in testimony before Congress early this summer, it all hinges on the farmer and rancher — and on the funding to support them: "Previous programs have firmly demonstrated that farmers will do their share to tackle conservation chal- lenges if given adequate support, but conservation pro- grams are badly oversubscribed. More than half of all farm- ers seeking technical assistance to enhance their steward- ship are turned away. So too are three out of every four farmers seeking help from the Environmental Quality Incentive Program to improve water quality, or help from the Wetland Reserve Pro- gram to restore wet- lands. And approxi- mately 4,000 farmers and ranchers in the path of sprawl who are willing to sell develop- ment rights to main- tain productive farms near metro areas have been rejected due to inadequate funds." Although delivered by Grossi, the testimo- ny before the subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture was the work of a coalition of conservation groups. Starting last year, more than 15 influential national conservation groups including Environmental Defense (ED), Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) have been collaborating with AFT to strengthen conservation programs in agriculture. Join Hands and Run Hard With more than 55 percent of the American landscape given over to farm and ranch land, it is not surprising that other savvy conservation groups are looking to the farm bill as well. And earlier this year, Congress passed a budg- et resolution that makes an average of $17 billion per year available for agriculture programs over the next decade, more than double what was previously available. So mak- ing sure that Congress's decision is well- informed becomes paramount. "The theory is that together we can swing this boat around so that we have a farm bill for everyone rather than AMERICAN FARMLAND FALL 2001 15