Negotiators announced late Wednesday that they had reached agreement
on a final Farm Bill. An overview of the agreement will be presented
by Senator Tom Harkin, Rep. Collin Peterson, and other conferees
Thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm eastern, and will be webcast on the
House and Senate Agriculture Committee web sites
(http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html or
http://agriculture.senate.gov/.)

We understand the estimates we provided last week for various
conservation program levels are generally close, but may not all be
exactly right. When we have official details we will provide them.

What is clear is that the bill, as Senate Agriculture Committee Chair
Tom Harkin noted on the committee's web site, "shifts the focus in
conservation strongly in the direction of working land conservation."

We understand both the Conservation Reserve Program and Wetlands
Reserve Program will see substantial cuts from the acreage provided
under the 2002 Farm Bill. In contrast, the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program, Conservation Security Program, and Farm and Ranch
Protection Program will all see substantial increases in funding.

The result is a shift of several billion dollars, and millions of
acres, from programs that provide wildlife habitat (and other
benefits) to programs that primarily address other kinds of
environmental concerns on farms and ranches. The bill may also fall
short in other ways.

"Both the House and Senate recognized the importance of including a
provision in the Farm Bill to halt federal incentives that encourage
the destruction of native grasslands," said NWF President and CEO
Larry Schweiger Wednesday. "Yet, the Farm Bill Conference Committee
has taken it upon itself to water down this provision until it is
toothless."

"The General Accountability Office has cited the availability of Crop
Insurance and Disaster Payments as a key factor in decisions by
farmers to destroy native grasslands to plant crops. This Farm Bill
greatly ups the ante by providing a new permanent disaster program
that will make it even more attractive for farmers to destroy our
nation's rapidly diminishing native grasslands; even where such lands
would not be economically viable to convert without a taxpayer-backed
safety net," said Schweiger.

"Beyond the immediate threat to native habitats and the wildlife that
depend upon them, weakening this provision in the Farm Bill could
have a resounding negative impact on our country by exacerbating
global warming. In the Great Plains region alone, conversion of
grasslands to cropping would add 468 billion pounds of carbon dioxide
to the atmosphere - the equivalent of putting nearly 41 million new
cars to the road.

"Our nation cannot afford a Farm Bill that will both increase global
warming and escalate the destruction of one of our nation's most
endangered ecosystems. This is the wrong approach for our nation and
for the future of our planet."

President Bush has threatened to veto the Farm Bill over concerns
about the lack of reform in the commodity title and the amount of
spending in the bill. That could set up a showdown with Congressional
leaders who would be pressing to override the veto.