U.S. Farmers May Be Violating Federal Law to Prevent Erosion

WASHINGTON â€”  Nearly half of all farms surveyed by conservationists were potentially in violation of a law that requires owners to protect their farms from soil erosion or risk losing federal farm benefits.

The Soil and Water Conservation Society said it found that 42% to 48% of the farms it surveyed represented potential violations of the government’s conservation compliance policy if they are receiving farm program benefits.

The professional association of public and private conservationists spent three years on its study.

Its conclusions, detailed in a draft copy obtained by the Associated Press, are in sharp contrast to the Agriculture Department’s findings that just 1.2% of farms it checks are out of compliance with the law.

Ken Cook, an environmentalist who served on a steering committee overseeing the study, said the findings point to “a massive abuse of the public trust and the taxpayers’ money.�

“This is one of the most serious breaches of environmental law and policy I’ve ever seen,� said Cook, vice president for policy at the Center for Resource Economics, an environmental policy and research organization.

Galen Bridge, associate chief of USDA’s Soil Conservation Service, said he doesn’t disagree with the “factual content of the report in those counties that they looked at.�

Implementing conservation plans on 140 million acres is a huge undertaking, he said, and it has taken time to persuade farmers to change their growing practices and to let them know that USDA is serious about ensuring compliance with the law.

Under the law, farmers who have highly erodible cropland and who wish to remain eligible for many farm program benefits were to have obtained conservation plans for that land by Dec. 31, 1989.