This legislation has helped put conservation issues front and center early on in the discussions for the next farm bill, and Senator Harkin is to be commended for that. The farm bill debate provides all of us the opportunity to boldly increase our efforts to spur conservation on private lands with the same vigor President Theodore Roosevelt employed as he championed public land conservation a century ago. That same vision and leadership is needed today for private lands conservation. The environmental challenges that face America's farmers and ranchers are daunting. Foremost is water quality, from Total Maximum Daily Load regulations to hypoxia strategies at the national level, down through a matrix of steadily proliferating state and local initiatives.
Confined livestock raise water quality and odor issues.
Soil erosion continues to bedevil us. And agriculture is also looked to as an important source of wildlife habitat. In a nutshell, this is the justification for the additional incentives we seek for agricultural producers. The Alliance for Agricultural Conservation suggests four strategic issues that should be addressed in the conservation title of the next farm bill. These issues and related policy options follow.