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For Immediate Release
Defenders Backs Wellstone Farm Bill Amendment
WASHINGTON -- An amendment to be offered by Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) during Senate consideration of the farm bill will stop the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from becoming an incentive to expand massive, concentrated livestock operations, according to Defenders of Wildlife.
"We believe our nation’s agricultural policy should help family farmers and encourage sustainable agriculture, not provide incentives for further concentration of livestock into ever-larger factory farms," said Mark Shaffer, senior vice president for programs at Defenders of Wildlife. "It was disgusting to watch as agribusiness pressure on the Senate Agriculture committee pried open the EQIP for the first time to massive livestock operations. Senator Wellstone’s amendment will make sure EQIP doesn't dump taxpayer dollars into ever-bigger manure lagoons and doesn't become a massive giveaway to the largest industrial animal factories."
In several of the current proposals in congress, EQIP funds for crop and livestock producers could rise to over $1 billion a year in cost share and technical assistance.
Last month, the Senate Agriculture Committee added language to the proposed farm bill that removed the cap on the number of animals a livestock operation could have and qualify for EQIP cost-share assistance. This move allows even the largest confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) – some of which concentrate tens of thousands of hogs or cattle, or millions of chickens in close quarters – to receive cost-share assistance for waste management structures, including lagoons of liquid manure that can cover several acres. These huge lagoons often leak, and can flood or burst, sending untreated animal waste downstream to impact drinking water, wildlife habitat and recreation.
Senator Wellstone’s amendment contains important provisions that will prevent EQIP from becoming an incentive for the expansion of large CAFOs:
1) It prohibits new or expanding CAFOs from receiving cost-share assistance for installation of animal waste management facilities and related equipment;
2) It prohibits individuals and entities that have an interest in more than one CAFO from receiving cost-share assistance for animal waste management facilities and related equipment;
3) It prohibits CAFOs sited in any 100-year floodplain from receiving cost-share assistance for animal waste management facilities and related equipment;
4) It requires all participants receiving cost-share assistance for animal waste management facilities to develop and implement a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan; and
5) It sets the payment limitation at no more than $100,000 for a 5-year contract or $60,000 for a 3-year contract.
"We believe the limitations set forth in the Wellstone amendment represent a reasonable compromise between broadening the number of operations that can receive EQIP assistance, and preventing this program from becoming a massive giveaway to factory farm agribusinesses or an incentive for animal feeding operations to expand," Shaffer said.
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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 480,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on environmental issues.
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