2014 Farm Bill Passes the House

Sportsmen and women’s top priorities included in the bill

The House of Representatives today passed the 2014 Farm Bill with a bipartisan vote of 251-166.

The 2014 Farm Bill includes the conservation and sporting community’s top priorities of re-coupling conservation compliance to crop insurance and a Sodsaver program affecting top duck producing states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“This is a big win for conservation and for working farmers and ranchers. The conservation programs authorized and funded through the farm bill are the backbone of Ducks Unlimited conservation work on private lands, and they have just been strengthened by the inclusion of our top priorities,” said DU CEO Dale Hall. “It has been a long road of compromise to get to this point, and DU congratulates Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson on the major accomplishment of passing the 2014 Farm Bill.”

More than 70 percent of the nation’s original native grasslands and 50 percent of wetlands have already been lost. Conservation provisions included in the 2014 Farm Bill are designed to encourage the conservation of our nation’s remaining wetlands and grasslands, which help keep our waters clean, prevent soil erosion and provide vital habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

“We also appreciate the leadership of Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi in shepherding this farm bill that is so important to all citizens to a strong bipartisan vote on House passage. We look forward to expedited consideration by the Senate and bipartisan passage there,” said Hall.

Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. DU got its start in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. Determined not to sit idly by as the continent’s waterfowl dwindled beyond recovery, a small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as Ducks Unlimited. Its mission: habitat conservation. Thanks to decades of abiding by that single mission, Ducks Unlimited is now the world’s largest and most effective private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization. DU is able to multilaterally deliver its work through a series of partnerships with private individuals, landowners, agencies, scientific communities and other entities.