Three Days, Three Actions!

It’s time to speak out for the future of food and farming – and we need your help!  By the end of this week, we may see the first draft of the 2012 Farm Bill from Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Join NSAC’s call for “Three Days, Three Actions” and make one call each day this week to voice your support for a better 2012 Farm Bill!

TODAY’S ACTION: Conservation Stewardship Program

Successful farming and healthy soil, air, and water go hand in hand.

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a unique program that rewards farmers for the environmental benefits they produce.  CSP helps farmers and ranchers manage and expand smart conservation activities on their lands – like restoring native grasses on pastureland to create wildlife habitat or rotating crops seasonally to improve the soil.

CSP is extremely popular with producers, with twice as many applicants as there is funding competing to participate in the program!

The 2012 Farm Bill gives us an opportunity to improve this successful program so that it works better on the ground.  Unfortunately, the draft bill that the Senate Agriculture Committee votes on next week does not make these important improvements.  There is still time to ensure that the 2012 Farm Bill moves CSP in the right direction!

Call TODAY!
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is a supporter of conservation and she needs to hear from you that CSP matters.

Tell Chairwoman Stabenow:  Thank you for your support of conservation efforts.  Please retain and improve the Conservation Stewardship Program!  We need the 2012 Farm Bill to include a CSP that rewards positive conservation outcomes by:

• Upgrading the “stewardship thresholds” farms must meet to be eligible to get into the program,
• Ranking CSP applications solely according to the total environmental benefits being achieved, and
• Allowing farmers to renew their CSP contracts provided they agree to increase their CSP environmental benefits.

The NSAC Grassroots Team

P.S.  If you call -- tell us how it went!