Senators recently introduced the Farmer to Farmer Education Act. Senators Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, and Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, introduced the bill last week. The legislation would leverage existing technical assistance resources by supporting farmer-led education networks and build capacity for new ones—particularly for communities historically marginalized from existing systems—as a key strategy to increase adoption of conservation practices.
As farmers and ranchers are met daily with unique challenges, including unexpected weather, droughts, and floods, they often turn to colleagues to find the right answer. The lawmakers say the bill fills a critical gap in federal programs to support and provide guidance to those networks. Specifically, the bill would authorize the National Resources Conservation Service to enter into cooperative agreements with community-based organizations in each state that can identify and build on established and burgeoning peer-to-peer networks, and/or create new ones.