Fifty-six conservation-minded groups today urged Congress to preserving funding for Agriculture Department conservation programs following the release of an annual survey on agriculture and the environment funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

“The public and the conservation community are sending a unified message to Capitol Hill: the worthy goals of deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility must not be an excuse to reduce support for conservation,” said Jon Scholl, president of the American Farmland Trust.

“As a matter of national security, it is imperative that we maintain our robust investment in conservation and simultaneously work to make the conservation programs smarter and more efficient,” Scholl said.

Packard Foundation 2011 Survey on Agriculture and Environment