Throughout the Western United States, family farms and ranches have facilitated the conservation and stewardship of the region’s natural resources while anchoring the region’s rich cultural heritage and identity. It is a landscape and a way of life that works for rural economies and resource conservation.

Here, private land stewardship is the key to continued conservation innovation, resource and habitat enhancements, and sustainable working land partnerships. It is a region in which farmers and ranchers have been finding ways to successfully balance resource stewardship and their bottom line,  thanks in part to the availability of Farm Bill conservation programs.

The Family Farm Alliance has for over a decade served on the Steering Committee of the Western Agriculture and Conservation Coalition (WACC).

The Alliance – through its engagement with the WACC – has worked closely on the last several farm bills, and the 2018 Farm Bill conservation title contains many provisions the WACC and the Alliance advocated for. 

“The conservation title of the last farm bill was a good thing, and parts are due to the direct work of the Alliance and its agricultural and conservation allies,” said Alliance Executive Director Dan Keppen. “It reflects the growing trend in the West, where individual producers – working with irrigation districts, non-governmental organizations and state and federal partners – are performing large-scale projects that benefit the environment, improve on-farm water management, and provide a new cash stream that helps rural communities.”

Check out the latest video (3 minutes 42 seconds in length) produced by Farmers Conservation Alliance, where members of the WACC share the story behind the coalition’s efforts to support FCA’s large-scale irrigation modernization improvements across the West.