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Tiffany Reintroduces Legislation to Protect American Farmland

February 13, 2023

The FARM ACT would eliminate the use of “green energy” subsidies that remove ag land from production

CHIPPEWA FALLS, WI – On Friday, Congressman Tom Tiffany (WI-07) announced the reintroduction of the Future Agriculture Retention and Management Act – or FARM Act for short. This legislation would eliminate the market-distorting energy tax handouts that help prop up the siting of solar panels and wind arrays on agricultural lands, often taking the farmland out of production.
 
“Taxpayers should not be forced to finance green energy giveaways at the expense of our farmland,” 
said Congressman Tom Tiffany. “With global food demand rising and food shortages already being reported, the FARM Act is a much-needed policy that will restore common sense and fairness to energy and agricultural policy by removing the corporate welfare that has propped up intermittent energy sources for far too long.” 
 
To announce the reintroduction of the FARM Act, Congressman Tiffany was joined by state lawmakers, local stakeholders, and hardworking farmers on Friday for a press conference at Custer Farms Inc. in Chippewa Falls. 

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FARM Act Press Conference

Congressman Tiffany and Isaac Orr, a Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, speak on the FARM Act.

Background: 
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), since 2014, U.S. Farmland acreage has decreased by over 13.62 million acres – amounting to an average loss of over 1.9 million acres per year. 
 
Instead of forcing taxpayers to underwrite generous "green energy" giveaways that often take farmland out of production, the FARM Act would protect family farms for generations to come, save American farmland, and safeguard long-term food security. 
 
The FARM Act does not prevent developers from building wind turbines or solar panels. However, it does prevent taxpayer funds from tipping the scales in favor of wind and solar development at the expense of food production. Over the next decade, it is estimated that wind and solar subsidies will cost taxpayers $113 billion. 
 

The full text of the FARM Act can be found here.

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