Some 72 million acres of farmland are enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), 8 percent of all U.S. farmland and equal in size to Iowa and Georgia combined, says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in a report. The CSP was the first program at USDA to provide an annual payment to producers who adopt conservation practices as part of their daily operations. The green-payment program is nearly three times larger than the better-known Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile land.
“CSP is unique for its comprehensive approach to conservation assistance,” says NSAC, because producers are required to enroll their entire operation “and are rewarded both for actively managing conservation activities and maintaining high stewardship levels as well as implementing additional conservation activities over the course of the contract.”
Payment rates are relatively modest – $7.50 an acres on cropland and $3 an acre of pasture – and NSAC suggests the 2018 farm bill should guarantee a minimum payment of $1,500 a year to make participation worthwhile for small farmers. Cropland accounts for 61 percent of land enrolled in CSP. The small-farm advocacy group also says Congress should restore recent cuts made to conservation funding. They include cuts equal to $4 billion over 10 years in the 2014 farm bill and cuts made since the law took effect, amounting to 10 percent of annual funding.
In 16 states, at least 10 percent of farmland is enrolled in CSP: Alaska, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Oregon, South Dakota, Mississippi, Delaware, Georgia, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Carolina, Arkansas and North Dakota, said NSAC.
To read the NSAC report on CSP, click here.