TWS joins call for congressional action on a 2024 farm bill

The Wildlife Society joined over 400 other national and state-based organizations and companies in signing a letter to U.S. House and Senate leadership asking for action on a 2024 Farm Bill.

Funding and programs within the Farm Bill address issues ranging from agriculture food production, to easements and working lands conservation. Mandatory spending under Title II of the Farm Bill accounts for the largest single source of federal funding for private lands conservation, including programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

The Farm Bill typically follows a five-year cycle. Once the bill expires, the U.S. Congress updates and enacts a new piece of legislation. The most recent Farm Bill (Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) would have expired at the end of 2023, but Congress passed a one-year extension of the bill in November of that year. Efforts to pass a 2024 Farm Bill have notably been slowed by partisan disagreements over spending of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds on Farm Bill programs. The House’s current proposed bill would remove the existing requirement that IRA dollars be spent on practices and programs with identified climate benefits.

A diverse group of stakeholders with ties to the Farm Bill and its associated federal programs—including environmental, conservation, rural development, nutrition and agriculture-focused organizations—signed onto the recent letter. For The Wildlife Society, a current priority includes working to ensure adequate funding for conservation programs within the next iteration of the Farm Bill. Last year, TWS joined in coalition efforts to highlight conservation priorities and make recommendations for strengthening conservation programs in the 2023 Farm Bill.

The House draft of the legislation has passed out of the Agriculture Committee but is unlikely to see progress until later in the year when appropriations bills have been finalized. The Senate version is currently a framework released by Agriculture Committee Chair Stabenow.

TWS and others noted that the pressures and logistical constraints of 2024 being an election year make the passage of a 2024 Farm Bill an urgent task for the 118^th Congress. “As committed stakeholders and beneficiaries of the farm bill, we cannot continue to wait for updated policies, provisions, initiatives, and critical funding that support our collective interests,” the letter states.