The two largest U.S. soil, water and wildlife conservation programs aimed at working lands are targeted for enhancements in legislation sponsored by Minnesota Representative Tim Walz, a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee. Among its provisions, the bill would maintain enrollment of 10 million acres annually into the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). President Trump proposed elimination of CSP in his budget package for the fiscal year starting on October 1.
“Maintaining our soil health is crucial,” said Walz, a six-term Democrat. The Walz bill would assure funding for working lands conservation and better coordinate the CSP and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the other of USDA’s largest working-lands programs. The nonprofit Land Stewardship Project, based in Minnesota, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition endorsed the bill.
Some 72 million acres are enrolled in CSP at present, making it the largest U.S. stewardship program. Producers receive payments in exchange for making conservation part of their daily operations. EQIP shares the cost with farmers of practices that reduce runoff or improve water quality. Besides maintaining CSP enrollment, the Walz bill would maintain EQIP funding at $1.75 billion a year and reserve $500 million a year in EQIP funds to protect drinking-water sources. The bill would establish a coordinated process “through which participants can easily graduate from EQIP to CSP” and increase the average CSP payment rate to $23 an acre “to incentivize high-level conservation,” according to a summary.
Walz is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for governor in Minnesota. He won the state’s precinct caucuses with 31 percent of the vote a month ago and has a well-funded campaign. Two high-profile Democrats, former St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and state Attorney General Lori Swanson, dropped out of the race after the caucuses, said the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Delegates at a Democratic state convention in June will decide who will receive the party endorsement.