In comments submitted to the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), R-CALF USA expressed strong opposition to the “Sponsoring USDA Sustainability Targets in Agriculture to Incentivize Natural Solutions (SUSTAINS) Act of 2021”.
The SUSTAINS Act was enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. According to the Federal Register, the SUSTAINS Act “expands USDA’s authority to accept contributions of private funds to support existing conservation programs and provides additional guidelines for those contributions.”
In its comments, R-CALF USA expressed its belief that it is “fundamentally contrary to the principles of good government” to solicit private contributions from entities that the USDA regulates, to offer those entities benefits beyond targeted programs, and to engage in the false façade that private contributions don’t facilitate special favors between the USDA and private corporations with a stake in targeted programs.
The group stated that the provisions of the SUSTAINS Act would exacerbate corporate control by granting private corporations access to USDA officials through their financial contributions, which independent livestock producers could not possibly match. It also stated that the Act could give considerable corporate influence over the daily management of independent farmers and ranchers based on public program participation, all sanctioned by the federal government.
R-CALF USA highlighted the concern of violations of the Constitution and America’s notion of separation of powers should the Secretary of Agriculture be given the power to solicit private funds with which to carry out public programs and concluded the comments by requesting the NRCS urge the repeal of the SUSTAINS Act.
“Our government has rules over how it treats citizens, big business is also limited by laws of conduct over its customers,” said R-CALF USA President Brett Kenzy. “A law like the SUSTAINS Act unites corporate and government power, blurring those rules of legal and ethical behavior.”