Cost of drought relief disappointing to some

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

The Associated Press

GRAND ISLAND — The $2.9 billion drought relief package Congress passed this week comes with a cut in a farm program, which has disappointed some lawmakers and conservationists.

"Funding drought relief by robbing the Conservation Security Program is like paying for hurricane relief by cutting the disaster preparedness budget," said Duane Hovorka, executive director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation.

Conservation programs can help producers better manage their land, blunting the effects of drought, he said.

Nebraska Sens. Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson and Rep. Tom Osborne all opposed paying for drought relief by cutting into the conservation program. The House required the offset but the Senate left open the possibility of restoring full program funding when Congress returns after the election.

The Conservation Security Program was passed as part of the 2002 farm bill. It provided money to encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt better conservation practices. The program was delayed, however, and Nelson and others earlier this year criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture for restricting it to only a few watersheds, imposing large obstacles to participation and lowering payments to producers.

When the USDA announced this year's priority watersheds in May, the Lower Little Blue in Nebraska and Kansas was one of a handful to be included.

Pat McGrane, public information officer for the Nebraska USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the number of acres under the program might have been expanded next year. Exactly how the program will be affected by the funding cut was not immediately known, McGrane said.