Conservation programs suffer in 2013

The extension of the Farm Bill has done little to ease the minds of farmers, and has done even less to support conservation programs. While a handful of programs were extended through the Agricultural Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2012, many programs are greatly affected by the extension.  

Source: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/farmbill/

The Farm Bill extension keeps conservation programs in existence on paper even if there is a lack of funds to continue the programs. For now, many of these programs have no mandatory funding and are left to discretional funding. 

The Land Trust Alliance, an organization that partners with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, states that easement programs have lost $500 million of funding from the baseline due to cuts from mandatory funding. Easement programs include the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, the Grassland Reserve Program, the Healthy Forests Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program. 

One of the Farm Bill’s largest conservation programs, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), is facing many struggles in 2013. The CSP is designed to reward farmers who make environmental improvements to their land; however, the extension has severely limited the number of acres the program can enroll. 

According to an article written by the American Forests Organization, “The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), for example, is currently working on projects across the country on approximately 50 million acres of land and was authorized to enroll an additional 12.8 million acres in 2013 under the 2008 Farm Bill… enrollment has been reduced to only one million acres in 2013.” 

Source: http://www.americanforests.org/blog/fighting-for-the-farm-bill/

Some of the conservation programs were authorized through the continuing resolution and are guaranteed until 2014; however, these programs only have enough funding to manage the existing projects. Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, Agricultural Management Assistance Program and the Farmland Protection Program are among the programs extended until 2014. 

To learn more about which programs are still available in your area, contact your local National Resources Conservation Service office.