Local control provides local governments the ability to make decisions that benefit their communities. It can happen at the township, county, city, or regional level. The decisions that are made can impact everything from local policy to how public funds are spent.
Right now, the federal government is considering changing the rules for local decision-making related to spending decisions for conservation programs. This rule change would undercut the voice of farmers and weaken local control across the country by removing state conservationists’ authority to determine how public dollars are allocated for conservation practices in their respective states.
We recognize that due to the government shutdown, some staff at the USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are furloughed or working without pay. Let’s make support for local control and conservation front and center when the government does get back to work for the people.
What you can do today:
Why this matters now:
At a time when farmers are facing major uncertainty and federal protections of our water and soil are being weakened, we need to make sure local farmers have more, not less, of a voice when it comes to how our public dollars are invested for conservation efforts.
For decades, federal programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and others have relied on states and localized regions within states to set financial priorities based on farmer feedback.
For example, through the Minnesota state conservationist position, farmers in southeastern Minnesota can influence how much public funding will go for cover crop adoption to enhance clean water. Or farmers in western Minnesota can shape how livestock grazing programs work. In other words, it allows farmers to be part of their state’s decision-making system and it makes it so the NRCS is better informed about how programs are playing out on the ground.
FOR DETAILS & TO TAKE ACTION, CLICK HERE
At the Land Stewardship Project, we believe that local control helps make conservation programs work better for everyone, especially farmers and communities. Regardless of your role in our farm and food system, your voice is needed. Please take action today!
If you’d like to learn more about what LSP and our partners are doing to protect local control and bring more farm and rural voices to the table, reach out to LSP’s Sean Carroll via e-mail or at 763-297-1931.