A coalition of conservation groups yesterday pressed House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to move a five-year farm bill rather than the one-year extension that is slated to be voted on this week.

In a letter to the speaker, the 13 conservation groups expressed their "strong and unified disapproval" in the way House leadership has handled the reauthorization of the farm bill, which expires Sept. 30. They further objected to the $759 million the extension would cut from farm bill conservation programs in order to pay for emergency drought payments.

"Of course we understand the need to respond to the drought and to the challenges it poses to farm families," the groups wrote, "but it makes little sense to pay for the emergency program almost entirely with cuts to the Conservation Title, which represents a small proportion of the overall bill."

Among the groups signing the letter: the Environmental Defense Fund, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the extension later today. The extension will likely be on the floor tomorrow before House members leave Washington, D.C., at the end of the week for a five-week recess.

The release of the one-year extension last Friday came after weeks of speculation that House leaders would attempt to punt the full five-year farm bill down the road even after the Senate passed a version earlier this year. The extension package continues certain programs and provides drought relief for farmers and ranchers.

The extension contains no mandatory funding for rural energy programs that will lose their baseline funding at the expiration of the current farm bill in September.

According to a Congressional Budget Office scoring released yesterday, the extension would offset the $621 million increase in disaster program funding largely through a $759 million decrease in conservation programs and a $261 million decrease in direct payments over the next decade.

In their letter to Boehner, the groups defended the farm bill's conservation programs, saying they are farmers' best defense in protecting the nation's natural resource base in the future.

"We request that you move forward on a full farm bill in the coming months," the groups wrote, "one that, among other things, does not damage the ability of the conservation title of the bill to continue its longstanding and successful partnership with America's farmers and ranchers to protect our nation's exceptional soil, water and wildlife resources."

The letter was also sent to agricultural leaders and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has also pushed for floor debate on the five-year farm bill.

"Let us debate the farm bill now, make the necessary changes, and get a good bill to the president's desk before September 30th," Pelosi wrote in a July 19 letter.