The Pacific Northwest exports over $20 billion in agricultural and food products each year. But farmers say increasing climate change challenges, like intense storms, extreme heat, drought and wildfire smoke could disrupt that.
On Wednesday, federal House and Senate agriculture committee legislators released their summaries of the 2024 farm bill. As legislators ramp up action on the bill, a group of Southwest Washington farmers is calling on lawmakers to protect funding for conservation and climate resilience programs.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the largest climate investment in the nation’s history, earmarked billions of dollars for climate action. It included nearly $40 billion for climate-smart agriculture initiatives and it also set aside $20 billion for conservation and agricultural climate resilience programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
An aerial photo of Willapa Bay Heritage Farm in Long Beach, Wash. Deb Howard, who owns the 9-acre farm, grows organic produce and raises chickens and some goats.
Courtesy of Deb Howard
Now, farmers are asking Congress to permanently include that money in the 2024 farm bill — an omnibus package of legislation that is renewed every five years and includes funding for public food assistance programs, crop insurance, agricultural conservation programs and rural development projects.
Deb Howard, who runs the Willapa Bay Heritage Farm in Long Beach, Washington, said farmers need continued support to establish sustainable practices amid a changing climate.
“It’s getting hotter and drier, and the summer times are getting longer,” Howard said. “We have already added 32 days of extra farming time, which is good in some ways. But it’s a lot drier, it’s a lot harder to maintain that.”
Howard said some of the funds she’s received through the USDA have been transformative for her farm.
“This funding not only has allowed us to enhance our sustainable practices — like our diverse crop rotations and solar energy projects — but has deepened our community connections through educational farm tours, local partnerships, and rural internet connectivity,” Howard said. “It’s essential we continue to receive this federal support to further the vitality of our farm and community.”
John Spencer, who runs Get To-Gather Farm, at a press event where a group of Southwest Washington farmers called on federal legislators to keep conservation and climate resilience funds in the farm bill.
Alejandro Figueroa / OPB
Climate-smart initiatives are a broad set of goals that include increasing agricultural productivity, adapting and building resilience to climate change, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They build on practices many farmers and ranchers already use, like reducing or eliminating tillage — which reduces soil erosion and increases carbon sequestration into the soil — or planting cover crops, which helps increase moisture in fields and can naturally fertilize soil.
Some of those practices have received funding from USDA conservation programs through the Inflation Reduction Act, said Megan Kemple, the executive director of the Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network — an agricultural policy and advocacy group.
“Farmers are increasingly choosing voluntary conservation programs to manage risk,” Kemple said. “They are taking responsibility and we need to make sure they can implement practices that make their farms resilient, not just this year, but for years to come.”
Federal legislators are still discussing how to allocate funds for the farm bill, although at least one House agriculture committee leader is set to begin debating their version of the bill in late May.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the person pictured and the organization he’s affiliated with. He is John Spencer with Get To-Gather Farm. OPB regrets the error.