Why It Matters: Despite expiring in 2023 and operating on one-year continuations since, the Farm Bill, particularly the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title, remains a top priority for supporting meaningful, voluntary conservation on private lands. While the House passed a new Farm Bill earlier this year, the recent markup of the Senate’s version resulted in a stalemate. As most disagreements over the legislation stem from topics well outside of the Conservation Title, hope remains that a bipartisan Farm Bill can be achieved this year.
Highlights:
- Last Thursday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry held a business meeting to mark up the Committee’s draft of the Farm Bill.
- During this meeting, the overall package failed to advance out of committee, driven largely by disagreements over provisions related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- While this was a setback for the overall package as the end of the 119th Congress approaches, hope remains strong that a Farm Bill which still includes many of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s (CSF) priorities can be passed.
Last Thursday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman and Senate Co-Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Senator John Boozman (AR) led the Senate Committee’s markup of their draft of the next Farm Bill. Unfortunately, partisan division, primarily over proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), resulted in the bill failing to advance out of Committee. Though this is a significant snag in the Farm Bill process, the Committee will continue to work toward compromises in hopes of passing a Farm Bill before Congress adjourns.
Ahead of the meeting, much had been said about the draft’s proposal to retool Conservation Title funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to support new opportunities like the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP), State Conservation Assistance Program, and updates and improvements to other conservation programs. Opponents of this move point to the high rejection rate among EQIP applicants in 2025, suggesting that this plan would essentially rob already oversubscribed programs and called for amendments, some of which were considered, to rescind this redistribution of funds.
While EQIP and CSP are both incredibly popular and continue to be oversubscribed, it is important to note that funding alone was not the only factor that contributed to last year’s high rejection rate. Staffing shortages, changes in funding availability, and adjustments of payment limits also contributed to 2025’s high rejection rate. It is true that EQIP and CSP demand remain high, but simply adding dollars doesn’t address every problem, and the Conservation Title’s role in supporting voluntary conservation efforts on private lands requires Congress to consider the broader conservation portfolio.
Further, updates to the Farm Bill’s permanent baseline through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, which reallocated unobligated funds originally authorized through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, resulted in baseline funding for EQIP, CSP, and other programs reaching all-time highs. However, because legislative rules prevented Congress from establishing new conservation programs through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress relied on existing authorities within the Conservation Title to establish a higher baseline, providing future Farm Bills with the opportunity to allocate those resources among existing and new conservation priorities. Despite all of this, funding for EQIP and CSP would remain significantly higher than they were under the 2018 Farm Bill, contributing to an overall Conservation Title that provides landowners with a suite of voluntary, incentive-based tools that address a diversity of conservation challenges and opportunities on private lands.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation remains committed to supporting strong investments in the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title, highlighting the role that each of these programs play in supporting wildlife conservation and associated opportunities for sportsmen and women. While the need for a budget-neutral Farm Bill will undoubtedly prevent every conservation program from receiving the funding levels necessary to meet all demand, CSF remains supportive of meaningful funding for both existing programs and new priorities like FCEP, the forest-focused complement to existing working lands programs designed to keep forests working, conserve wildlife habitat, and address development pressures. CSF will continue to work with partners and Congress to advance a Farm Bill with a strong Conservation Title.
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