Farm Bill programs are an important tool for landowners. These programs serve to assist landowners in implementing a wide variety of conservation practices that sustain working lands, rural economies, wildlife habitat and populations and other natural resource values. In the West, landowners utilize several Farm Bill programs, especially working lands programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). The following charts depict federal payments by state for fiscal years 2015-2017.

The 2014 Farm Bill expires at the end of September 2018.  Last month, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed their version the Farm Bill. The bill will now head to Conference Committee, where congressional leadership will work to reconcile differences between the two bills. As WLA’s Policy Director, I will continue to work directly with congressional leadership, partner organizations and WLA members to make improvements in the Farm Bill programs that are most relevant to western landowners.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding the Farm Bill or other policy issues that WLA is working on, please email me: Jessica@westernlandowners.org. I look forward to hearing from you!

Western Landowners Alliance is pleased to welcome Jessica Crowder on staff as our new Policy Director. Before joining WLA, Jessica Crowder served as policy advisor for Wyoming Governor Matt Mead for over four years.  Her work for the governor focused on natural resource management with an emphasis on federal land management. Read Jessica’s full bio on the “Our People” page.