OPINION: Federal cuts undermine state healthy soil efforts

The health of the soil reflects the health and security of our nation, but recent actions by the federal government to limit or end conservation programs, gut Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff and close local offices, are putting all that in jeopardy. Farmers and ranchers awarded U.S. Department of Agriculture grants for soil and water stewardship projects on working lands are, in many cases, not getting the funding they were promised, putting into question whether the government will honor its commitments. Last month, 35 NRCS staffers were fired in New Mexico, and farmers as well as farmer-serving nonprofits are not receiving the resources spelled out in their contracts with USDA.

This assault on conservation affects public health, because minimized soil health means minimized nutrients in the foods we eat. It also weakens the foundation of our rural communities, raises prices on consumers over time and makes us less resilient when it comes to infiltrating and holding water in the ground, making it more prone to flash flooding. The list of harms to the security and sacredness of life goes on when we waver on taking care of precious land and water resources that sustain us.

Investing in voluntary stewardship and safeguarding of the soil has always been and should always be bipartisan. Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt, in responding to the infamous Dust Bowl conditions of the 1930s, said, “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” Likewise Republican President Ronald Reagan, who understood the value of soil and water conservation management to regenerate the land, said, “States and the federal government have a duty to protect our natural resources.” But that duty is now being betrayed with dire effects for drought-prone regions like ours.

The Land of Enchantment has been making important progress. Thanks to widespread stakeholder support, New Mexico is one of the states pioneering the establishment of a statewide healthy soil program which promulgates soil testing and research, interagency land management collaboration and a dynamic soil health grant program for producers and other eligible entities like soil and water conservation districts, tribes and pueblos, acequia associations and land grants. This state-based dedication to soil management is an important, evolving and critical tool for our future.

But recent actions by the new Trump administration and prospective budget cuts to soil and water conservation programs jeopardize this progress. Partnerships and combined resources are necessary for optimizing full scale soil management. New Mexico’s Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund critically invests in the preservation of our natural resources but it is much more impactful when federal matching funds are available. Furthermore New Mexico’s Healthy Soil Grant Program requires individuals and businesses who wish to apply to have a conservation plan from NRCS, but the mass firings at USDA mean there will likely not be enough local NRCS staff to handle the conservation planning that our people and the land need.

Now more than ever we can’t afford to go backward, so let’s together right the ship. We the people know that soil stewardship must be led locally and statewide, but to maximize impact we should simultaneously stand up for and call on our republic to not trample on us or the land but rather to help take care of the soil that takes care of us.