1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



percent of our rangcland is in good to excellent 

 condition. That means there are 20 million acres 

 that need better range management which 

 again requires education of a lot of ranchers. 

 We are confident that there will be significant 

 soil sa\ings once producers fully implement 

 their plans. How significant those savings will 

 be is unknown at this time, but we do know the 

 impact the Con5cr\-ation Rescr\e Program has 

 had in Montana and the nation. 



SCS estimates that 32 million tons/year are 

 being saved on Montana's 2.5 million acres of 

 CRT — over 609 million tons nationwide. 



Sodbusting is another area of concern here in 

 Montana. It seems to be slowing down for 

 se%'eral reasons. The Food Security Act is 

 helping, as well as other legislation enacted by 

 Congress that has removed some of the eco- 

 nomic incentives for sodbusting. Declining land 

 values has put a damper on it. 



Conservation districts have an important role in 

 the implementation of the conservation provi- 

 sions of the Food Security Act. Those 59 dis- 

 tricts are responsible for reviewing each of the 

 14,000 plans that have been develop>ed so far. 

 That is approximatly 80 percent of the plans 

 that need to be written. 



Supervisors are a good check and balance. They 

 help to keep a balance in how the plans are 

 written, making sure the producers and the 

 public interests are protected, and also alerting 

 SCS people when a producer may be overesti- 

 mating yields. Most super\isors are ranchers or 

 farmers themselves and they know what is 

 reasonable in their area and what isn't. 



To conservation districts, the FSA has acceler- 

 ated attaining our goal of controlling soil 

 erosion in Montana. Although all the FSA plans 

 being developed are only on the highly erodible 

 acres, we would like to see a conservation plan 

 developed for all the land in each producer's 

 unit. 



That has been one of the dissatisfactions for the 

 supervisors on our board in Gallatin County. 

 We would like to be able to develop a plan for 

 the total ranch or farm. We have had to ask for 



some restrictions for managing stubble on high 

 yielding ground to be eased. In some cases 

 allowing burning. 



Besides getting more conservation practices on 

 the ground, another positive aspect of the FSA 

 is the contact that has been generated with 

 producers who have never been cooperators. In 

 Gallatin district, we have 90 new cooperators. 

 Of those, 19 have had some technical assistance 

 previously, but the other 71 are new faces. 



As we look ahead, all the plans are to be written 

 by the end of 1989 and there are some who 

 think the job is done. We have heard that 

 expressed during our trips back to Washington, 

 D.C., from people in Office of Management and 

 Budget and even people in Secretary Lyng's 

 office. 



We believe the real job is just beginning. Most 

 of what has been done so far is only on paper. 

 Kow comes the time to put it in practice. 

 Producers will need ongoing assistance in 

 implementing their plans. We need to make 

 every effort to see they are successful and that 

 the practices developed in their plans are 

 economically feasible and still protect the 

 resource. 



By 1995, when all plans are to be applied, we 

 hope a survey of Montana farmers and ranchers 

 will show that they do indeed recognize that 

 soil erosion is a serious problem in Montana. 

 Not only that, but it can potentially be a serious 

 problem on their own land if they don't con- 

 tinually apply the management practices in 

 their conservation plans to keep erosion rates 

 down. 



The piendulum swings from one extreme to the 

 other. There was neglect of our resource 

 problems in the past, then in 1985 Congress 

 enacted the FSA and attempted to solve in five 

 years problems that had been developing for 

 years. It is my hope that in the 1990 Farm Bill, 

 Congress will stay the course and just continue 

 on with the 1985 Act. Let's see the results of all 

 this planning in five years. If we haven't done 

 the job by then, it will be time to make changes. 



Montana Chaptar, Soil and Watsr Contsrvatlon Society 



Aaguat ZB, 1989 



