The Farm Bill

AGree develops bipartisan policy recommendations that recognize the connection between conservation practices, reduced agricultural risk, and improved environmental and financial performance.

AGree has developed a suite of policy recommendations for the next Farm Bill that would support farmers with the information, risk management tools, and financial resources needed to build their environmental and economic resilience. AGree’s policy recommendations cover:

• Agriculture Data and Research: Improve and streamline the collection, sharing, and analysis of USDA data, and employ USDA data for critical research on how agriculture can mitigate and adapt to climate change by improving soil health, water quality and quantity, and risk reduction.  
• Technical Assistance: Assess the technical assistance system and pilot innovative solutions for improving information delivery to farmers, ranchers, and foresters, especially for implementing conservation practices to enhance profitability. 
• Crop Insurance: Strengthen the Federal Crop Insurance Program by expanding support for farmers to transition to conservation agriculture and remove barriers to conservation practices within the program. 
• Finance: Improve financial tools to de-risk the financing of conservation practice adoption and implementation.
• Climate-Smart Commodities: Ensure outcomes from innovative pilot projects are translated into policies and ensure the success of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. 

The farm bill represents an opportunity to support farmers and the environment. Implementing policy changes to support broader adoption of agricultural conservation practices on working lands can help improve farm profitability, increase resilience, reduce risk, enhance environmental performance, and sequester carbon. We urge Congress and the President to consider these opportunities as they work to enact this critical piece of legislation.