Part 2: Family Farm Alliance Seeks Farm Bill Support for Farmers in Arid States

Executive Director of the Family Farm Alliance, Dan Keppen was on the show yesterday talking about what they do as an organization and advocating for farming water needs for states in the arid parts of the US. Today, he discusses what they are focusing on in the 2023 Farm Bill.

“We work with a coalition of other farm groups and conservation groups to really focus on the conservation title of the Farm Bill. So all the NRCS programs like EQUIP, and RCPP watershed programs that farmers and ranchers can, you know, take advantage of helps with their bottom line cash flow, but it's also doing good things for the environment.”

“Also mentioned yesterday is the fact that the alliance works closely with the Department of Reclamation, due to the fact that the department is responsible for snow melt water projects and distributions. And Keppen says when it comes to other federal fiscal bills, he is proud of the work and collaborations that they have built to support water delivery to arid states. Case in point is the infrastructure law signed by President Biden two years ago, which includes $8.3 billion for the Bureau for water projects.

“Our organization and four other organizations drove that coalition that ended up being 230 organizations from around the country. And we wrote the proposal that said, here's what we need.”

That request ultimately made it into a committee bill, which was in the package that was signed as part of the national infrastructure bill.