HF 151

1st Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A resolution
memorializing the United States Congress to reauthorize the Conservation Reserve
Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program as part of the 2007 Farm Bill.

WHEREAS, the Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary federal program that
protects millions of acres of American topsoil from erosion, thereby safeguarding our nation's
soil and water resources while at the same time benefiting our nation's farmers and farming
communities; and

WHEREAS, some 33,000 Minnesota farms participate in the Conservation Reserve
Program, committing to take 1,800,000 of our state's most environmentally sensitive acres out
of agricultural production for a period of ten to 15 years; and

WHEREAS, Minnesota farmers have instituted conservation and erosion control measures
on these acres, including planting trees and native grasses, installing filter strips and riparian
buffers, and restoring wetlands important to wildlife including native and migrating waterfowl;
and

WHEREAS, through the Conservation Reserve Program, Minnesota farmers remove
environmentally sensitive acres from agricultural production and plant them with cover crops,
thereby contributing to a reduction in price-depressing crop surpluses and lowering the federal
government's price support expenditures for covered crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat; and

WHEREAS, the Wetlands Reserve Program is a voluntary federal program in which
Minnesota landowners protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property, thereby improving
wetland values and functions and providing valuable wildlife habitat; and

WHEREAS, in 2006 there were 14,500 acres enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program
in Minnesota, representing nearly ten percent of program acreage nationwide and trailing only
Arkansas and Nebraska in the number of acres enrolled; and

WHEREAS, as successful and equitable conservation programs, the Conservation Reserve
Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program enjoy broad support in Minnesota from farming,
hunting, wildlife, and environmental communities; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the Congress
of the United States to reauthorize the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve
Program as part of the 2007 Farm Bill.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the Speaker and the Clerk of
the United States House of Representatives, the President and the Secretary of the United States
Senate, the chairs of congressional committees with jurisdiction over agriculture, and Minnesota's
Senators and Representatives in Congress.