Farm Bill Lacks Conservation Assistance

September 6, 2001

The House farm bill would "destroy the highly effective federal-state-local conservation technical assistance delivery system" that now serves the nation's conservation needs, according to the National Association of Conservation Districts. NACD estimates that up to 90% of the nation's agricultural producers could lose most or all of the conservation technical assistance they receive from USDA as proposed by the legislation.

"A well-funded technical assistance program is needed that reaches all landowners and operators regardless of whether they participate in cost share programs," said NACD's CEO, Ernest Shea. "Conservation technical assistance is the single most important component in our private land conservation arsenal, and the federal-state-local partnership is essential to the delivery process. Producers depend heavily on the technical support that they receive through conservation districts and NRCS; this basic need must not be overlooked as the next generation of private lands conservation programs is crafted."

Under the current provisions of the bill, NACD says the vast majority of the nation's farmers, ranchers and other land managers would no longer receive technical assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NRCS's role could be narrowed to providing only technical assistance to support producers who participate in federal cost share and land retirement programs. Significant geographic areas would no longer receive conservation technical assistance.

In addition, the nation's combined federal-state-local funded private lands conservation delivery system delivered through conservation districts "would be destroyed." Conservation district resources now used to support the implementation of federal conservation programs would be redirected to support state and local programs and priorities, NACD says.

To address what it sees as the technical assistance problems created by the proposed conservation title, NACD is calling for amended legislation that provides adequate technical assistance funding to support farmers and ranchers who participate in the proposed land retirement and cost-share programs as well as those producers who implement conservation practices without federal financial assistance and that retains the responsibility for managing conservation programs within USDA's conservation agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The National Association of Conservation Districts is the nonprofit organization that represents the nation's 3,000 conservation districts and 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. Conservation districts, local units of government established under state law to carry out natural resource management programs at the local level, work with more than 2.5 million cooperating landowners and operators to help them manage and protect land, water, wildlife and other resources on private lands.