Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman believes government can assist financially troubled farmers while still improving the environment.  But to do so will take "innovative approaches" to conservation that include farm economics.

"We need to continue to look at innovative approaches for conservation that also improve the economics of farming, whether these approaches are through cash incentives, risk management, credit assistance, farm tax credits or other means," he told the National Association of Conservation Districts, meeting in Washington.

The farm economy will "bounce back," he said, but then "we will still have to answer vitally important questions about what agriculture and the environment will look like in the next century."

There is no "be-all-end-all" environmental plan that will work on every farm or in every community, he continued.  "Good environmental practices are best developed by the people who better understand their own situations.  Our role is to provide the technical and financial support they need."

Adequate funding is needed, Glickman added, but federal budget "wars are making things tough.  Tough but not impossible."

Among the environmental and conservation projects that must be undertaken is to address "the safety and stability of more than 10,000 aging small watershed dams that contribute to flood control, water supply, recreation and wildlife habitat," he said.

Agriculture's role in land stewardship will be the subject of a panel that later this spring that will focus on environmental and conservation issues for the 21st century.