ASCS Gets Serious About Swampbuster

On December 23, 1985, Congress enacted the Food Security Act of 1985. The legislation's wetland conservation provisions, known as the Swampbuster provisions, deny agricultural subsidies to farmers who convert wetlands in order to produce crops. Although widely hailed as an innovative and much-needed effort to protect the nation's dwindling wetland resources, Swampbuster has been compromised by inadequate implementation and enforcement. In the first two years after the passage of the Act, only two producers in the entire United States were denied farm benefits. Fortunately, a recent administrative decision indicates that Swampbuster may yet become an effective tool.