Grassland policy from the ground up: the Farm Bill

[Note: In 2023, Megan Torgerson from Reframing Rural, a podcast with a mission to share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides, had the opportunity to attend WWF’s inaugural Sustainable Ranching Initiative gathering. What follows is Megan’s account of her experience at the event, and what participants can expect at this year’s gathering, which will take place on Sept 10-11, 2024 in Spearfish, South Dakota. This post is the second of four in a series. Read the first post here.]

The Farm Bill plays an integral role in conserving grasslands and keeping families like the Stoltzfuses on the land. This critical piece of legislation, which is reauthorized around every five years, also heavily impacts the lives of all Americans.

"This is an industry that's important, not just to those of us who live in rural America.” said House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson during a 2023 Farm Bill listening session with farmers and ranchers in Pennsylvania . “It touches the lives of every American family more times a day than any other industry.” (NPR).

The Farm Bill is made up of a diverse set of policies that cover everything from nutrition assistance programs, to crop subsidies and land and water conservation. Given that the food and agriculture sectors are a primary source of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, in 2024, the bill raises the significant task of transforming the food system and mitigating climate change (UN environment programme). In 2020 alone, the conversion of native grasslands to cultivated cropland in the US and Canadian Great Plains, resulted in the loss of 1.8 million acres of grasslands (WWF 2022 Plow Print Report). Cropland conversion compromises the resilience of grassland ecosystems by releasing carbon into the atmosphere and contributing to habitat loss for birds, pollinators and wildlife.

In an extensive write-up including recommendations for the 2024 Farm Bill, WWF recommends that Congress should “seize this opportunity to invest in American farmers, ranchers and forest-owners to make agriculture net zero by 2040, end habitat conversion and reverse species decline while supporting the viability of US producers.”

At the SRI Gathering, Suzy Friedman, the Senior Director for Food Policy at WWF, flew in from Washington DC to hear from ranchers and discuss what conservation priorities WWF has for the bill.

The top three priorities she shared, included:

1. Conserve and restore native and natural ecosystems by strengthening the role and benefits provided by the Grassland Conservation Reserve Program, commonly known as CRP.
2. Eliminate deforestation and conversion in agricultural supply chains.
3. Scale regenerative and resilient practices, programs and policies that drive systemic change and deliver significant co-benefits for climate, nature and people.

Following an overview of WWF’s Farm Bill priorities, Friedman facilitated a discussion with ranchers in the room.

One rancher from south of Billings shared the challenges of keeping her beef in a local food system. While some of her product is sold direct-to-consumer, she said despite “working her tail off to improve the soil,” the majority of her calves end up in feed lots. The rancher argued that it needs to be more commercially viable to sell more of her beef direct-to-market. This issue is exacerbated by the four large meatpackers whose market dominance has extinguished competition and dictated prices since the 1980s when a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the industry first began (New York Times). Another rancher echoed her complaint, arguing that unless we change policy, things won’t change for ranchers.

Another rancher chimed in that we need to increase consumer awareness of the ecological and human health benefits of regenerative grazing. He said that consumers should also be writing members of congress to change the status quo of agriculture. This opened up commentary on the “anti-animal environmentalist” movement and the perception that plant-based food is better for the environment than beef. One rancher added that “we have to get across the idea that animals are necessary on the land.”

The group agreed that more investment in conservation, marketing, and consumer knowledge of regenerative agriculture, would better support sustainable grazing infrastructure.

John Grande, the Montana Stockgrowers Association president was in attendance and spoke in support of WWF’s shared goals for supporting grazing management and cattle production in the Northern Great Plains. He highlighted that while many agricultural groups share common goals, “we probably have more in common with WWF than we do with Grain Growers Association,” a sector of agriculture that relies more heavily on crop insurance that is funded in part by the Farm Bill.

Bill Milton, operator of the Milton Ranch, called for groups including Montana Grain Growers Association, Montana Stockgrowers Association, and Montana Farm Bureau, to come together to identify common goals and approach congressional delegates with a united call for action that would help both family farms and ranches stay in operation.