Writing letters or op-eds in support of the Farm Bill

The Farm Bill conservation title authorizes programs that, taken in total, represent the largest single federal source of funding for voluntary private land conservation in the United States. Farm Bill programs create significant opportunities for land trusts to work with landowners to protect high-priority farmlands, ranchlands, grasslands, wetlands and forests. The programs provide matching funds to conservation partners, so federal investments go further and are a vital resource for conserving America's farmland and ranchland.

With the 2018 Farm Bill set to expire in September and with the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization negotiations under way, the Alliance is leading the charge to ensure land trust community needs are top of mind for policymakers. You can help advance the 2023 Farm Bill in Congress while you build — or strengthen — your land trust’s relationship with local media by writing a letter to (or op-ed for) your local newspaper. This document offers guidance to assist you in crafting such a piece.

Newspapers across the country continue to struggle with staff cuts and page count reductions. These resource limitations mean that many letters to the editor and op-eds never make it into the paper. But it’s possible to get your piece printed! The key is to give the newspaper what it wants. 

• Your piece must be well written and fall within word count limitations. An ideal letter or op-ed is one that is succinct, powerful and relevant to local readers. That can be a challenge to achieve when you’re working with tight word counts. (As a first step, verify with your newspaper of choice the word count for either letters or op-eds, depending on what you plan to write.) Still, meeting this challenge is important, for letters and op-eds are influential. 

• Your piece must be relevant to current news. In the competition for space, the timeliest letters and op-eds are given priority. So, emphasizing why you’re writing now is critical. 

• Your piece must be clear in its purpose. Some letters or op-eds see print because they offer a quick chuckle or astute observation. Yours should underscore the benefits of voluntary private land conservation and why the Farm Bill conservation programs are important to your community.

• Your piece must be written by you. Newspaper editors frequently identify and weed out form letters or op-eds (aka. fill-in-the-blank pieces). Additionally, newspapers now routinely ask letter and op-ed submitters to attest that they did, in fact, write the piece. So, while we can help you make the best possible letter, please note that we cannot write the letter for you. 

One more tip: Before you write your letter or op-ed, read several recent pieces that your newspaper has printed. This will help you identify any common traits (tone, style, etc.) published pieces share. 

When you’re ready to write your letter, remember that you’re not attempting to write the perfect letter or op-ed. You’re simply trying to write your best possible letter or op-ed. That’s much easier to do! 

• Think about how you would present your argument if you had just 60 seconds to convince someone about why it’s so critically important to support voluntary private land conservation. Consider recording audio of yourself briefly explaining the issue. When you play back that recording, note the frank and plainspoken language you use. This can inform and inspire your draft. 

• Think about the importance of keeping your letter understandable for general audiences. Avoid getting bogged down in details or allowing your writing to become overly technical. (Remember: Most readers of your letter or op-ed may not be familiar with specific U.S.D.A programs, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, or even voluntary private land conservation in general.) Instead, focus squarely on how voluntary private land conservation helps landowners and contributes to communities, regions and states, and the fact that programs funded by the Farm Bill make this conservation possible. Make sure to highlight: The numerous ways the Farm Bill conservation programs benefit landowners and your community.

• Think about highlighting a specific landowner’s story. They can speak most compellingly about why they chose to conserve their land, the value of conservation easements and the importance of individual property rights. As much as you can, maintain a local focus in your letter or op-ed. And don’t forget to confirm with the landowner if you decide to use their story.

Once you’ve drafted your letter or op-ed, your friends at the Land Trust Alliance are happy to review it and provide feedback. Feel free to share your draft with policy@lta.org. One of the Alliance’s team members working on this issue will get back to you promptly. 

Submitting your letter or op-ed can be an art unto itself. But by carefully seeing through delivery, you can give yourself the best possible chance of being published. 

• Pay close attention to your newspaper’s specific submission requirements for letters or op-eds. If the limit for letters is 150 words, for example, don’t submit a letter of 152 words. 

• Follow exactly the newspaper’s submission procedure. Some newspapers want letters or op-eds via email while others accept postal delivery. If submitting via email, some outlets allow attachments, but many prefer the piece to be pasted directly into the body of the email itself. If you’re unclear on how the letter or op-ed should be submitted, simply call the newspaper and ask. 

• Not sure where (or to whom) you should send your letter or op-ed? Email the Alliance’s communications team at communications@lta.org and ask for help. 

• If you do not receive delivery confirmation from the newspaper and you do not see your letter or op-ed published in three to five days, use your best judgement on following up. If you call to inquire about the piece’s status, do so with no expectation of publication. 

• If your submission ends up not being published, consider whether there are alternative outlets in your city or region to submit it to — just make sure to review the new outlet’s submission guidelines and revise your piece accordingly. Another option is to post is on your website as a blog, for example.

Whether your piece is published or not, you have taken an important step in building your land trust’s relationship with local media. There are other steps you can take next. 

• Make sure local media is aware of the work your organization is doing, whether that’s finalizing a new easement or offering family events that could be listed in community calendars.

• Invite your newspaper’s publisher or editor to visit conserved lands and help build familiarity with your land trust’s work.

• Be sure your land trust is included in reporter rolodexes, so to speak, for the next time they write about land conservation.

The more that local media know your land trust is a force for good, the more your entire community benefits! Writing a letter to the editor or op-ed about voluntary private land conservation can help set the record straight about the importance of protecting private property rights and the various tools, such as conservation easements, that are needed to complete our important work.

Top messages:

• The Farm Bill conservation programs, which are voluntary and incentive based, provide important tools to help producers. Taken in total, they are the largest single federal source of funding for voluntary private land conservation.

• Farm Bill easement programs are critical tools that help land trusts work with landowners who want to protect high priority farm and ranch lands, grasslands, wetlands and forests.

• We are losing our working lands at an alarming rate. Every hour, we lose roughly 150 acres of natural land and 40 acres of farmland. It’s imperative that we have tools to help landowners conserve our working lands and keep them viable – Farm Bill conservation programs are critical to our nation’s food security.

• Many Farm Bill programs provide matching funds to conservation partners, so federal investments go further to protect America’s productive land.

• Farm Bill easement programs make significant economic contributions to our communities and states, and they create jobs.

Additional messages:

• Farm Bill conservation programs help improve water quality and soil health, reduce erosion, conserve wildlife habitat, and permanently protect our most valuable and productive lands.

• Congress must fund the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program to meet the high demand for this program that keeps working lands in production. Farmers and ranchers who want to protect their land for future generations are often turned away because of the limited funding for ACEP programs. This leaves too many critical lands threatened by development pressures.

• The ability to recognize exceptional land trusts as certified entities was established in the 2008 Farm Bill with the intent of streamlining implementation for entity-held easements. Unfortunately, it has never been fully utilized and to date there are only eight certified entities. Congress should clarify the certification application and enrollment process and recognize certified entities across all NRCS easement programs. This would streamline implementation and leverage NRCS resources to keep working lands in working hands.

• The 2023 Farm Bill should maintain improvements for ACEP made in the 2018 Farm Bill which helped get more conservation dollars on the ground to help producers:

  • Don’t restore the Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) plan requirement, which did not advance conservation, but rather prevented key agricultural lands from being conserved.

  • Continue to allow landowner donations and expenses to satisfy match requirements, which expanded access to ACEP in areas with little state or local conservation funding.

• Congress must reduce barriers to program participation — in particular those barriers faced by historically underserved landowners — as all landowners should have access to Farm Bill conservation programs.

• Private forests comprise 58% of all forested land in the U.S. While the total area of forestland in the U.S. has been largely stable historically, private forests now face significant threats, mainly from conversion to housing and urban development. Congress can help fill the gap in the conservation of working forested lands by creating a stand-alone Forest Conservation Easement Program that ensures private forestland remains intact and in production, allowing it to continue providing numerous benefits to rural and urban communities.

• The Regional Conservation Partnership Program provides multiple options to improve conservation at scale and is a key tool for land trusts to help protect farm and ranch lands, grasslands, wetlands and forested lands. RCPP’s targeted, partnership-based approach to conservation is essential for the achievement of outcomes on a landscape- or watershed-level. The 2023 Farm Bill should recognize certified entities for RCPP easements and allow no more than 10% of the federal share to be used to pay indirect costs for eligible partners.

• The 2018 Farm Bill was a step in the right direction enabling Buy-Protect-Sell transactions that can provide opportunity for those who have trouble accessing farmland. However, for these transactions to work effectively, the language needs to be refined to clarify the primary purposes of BPS, clarify eligible lands and establish realistic timelines for enrollment.