2012 Farm Bill Passed

On June 21st your Senators passed the 2012 Farm Bill, also known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, with a bipartisan vote of 64-35.  Programs for forest owners were protected in this bill.


The Senate's Farm Bill includes:
• Consolidated, streamlined working lands programs that make sense for forest owners
• Improved access to important conservation programs, like the Conservation Stewardship Program
• Continued support for programs that combat invasive species
• Continued support for cooperative forestry and extension programs
• Strengthened direction for the forest inventory and analysis program, which researches market and forest health trends
• A Fix to the Biobased Markets Program that allows the inclusion of forest products, strengthening markets for home-grown, American products.

Access to conservation tools and technical assistance is very important to helping you keep your forests healthy, intact, and working.  Farm Bill programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and Forest Legacy provide important technical and financial assistance to forest owners, giving them the tools they need to implement important forest mangement practices on the ground.


For more informationon the 2012 Farm Bill go to the American Forest Foundation's web site.