The next Farm Bill should emphasize support for beginning farmers and agricultural conservation. Those were the priorities farmers set at a meeting with the Land Stewardship Project and Minnesota Representative Tim Walz on Monday. LSP Federal Policy Organizer Ben Anderson says as a result Walz will be introducing the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act. The bill supports innovative, community-based beginning farmer initiatives in dozens of communities across the U.S.
The bill, which has bipartisan support in Congress, would also launch a matched savings account and training program for new farmers.
Walz says the goal is to ensure the next Farm Bill is truly one for the next generation by promoting access to land, helping make credit readily available, and funding world-class research and education programs.
During the meeting, LSP farmer-members also discussed the need for federal programs to support farmers’ efforts to build soil health and put in place other conservation practices.
Rep. Walz agreed to work with LSP in championing soil health by supporting working lands conservation programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program.
