Putting Farmers and Ranchers at the Center of a Thriving Food System

I want to stay with you for a minute, Tim, because I feel like states, in the absence of federal leadership right now, are moving on these issues faster than our national government.

Can you talk about what's happening?

So the federal government managed to transfer the Inflation Reduction Act funding into the Farm Bill.

And that's actually something that's generating new billions of dollars in the future for conservation programs.

So I do want to call that out.

So even in the absence of a Farm Bill, many conservation organizations have still been able to make some pretty significant gains.

But at the same time, it's exactly what you said, Danielle.

There's a lot of states that are stepping in and filling important roles.

And you have two examples here with Maine and California.

So I'll stick with the Midwest.

Some states are really finding novel ways of incentivizing conservation.

So there's an Illinois program called Fall Covers for Spring Savings.

It provides a $5 discount on cover crops annually.

And basically, the description for that program is like trying to get Taylor Swift tickets.

Those tickets actually sell out within 24 hours.

That program ends up oversubscribing.

And it's really easy for farmers to participate.

And also it connects it with crop insurance.

And we have the data now that shows that for farmers that are planting cover crops, they're more likely to get their crops in the field.

They're less likely to receive insurance payments.

And so this is something that's actually a win-win-win.

It's a win for the farmer.

It's been a win for the environment.

It's been a win for us as taxpayers as well.

Absolutely.