Part 8: Funding and Technical Assistance Resources from USDA for Producers and Landowners

In this section, we'll talk about USDA resources for farmers and forest owners. While several different USDA agencies, such as the Forest Service, Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, and the Ag Research Service can provide assistance to farm and forest owners, most technical and funding assistance comes from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. NRCS has a long history of and is known for providing world-class conservation technical assistance to farmers. There is a local NRCS conservationist covering every county and every state in the country. To find your local conservationist, click on the web link below. Here is a highlight of some of the planning and funding assistance available from NRCS. NRCS conservationists can help you address resource concerns and plan practices that can improve your land's resilience to climate change. They can also help you understand your soils. If you decide to implement some of the recommendations, financial assistance is available through the EQIP and CSP programs. Examples of practices eligible for funding include increasing soil organic matter, managed grazing, switching from tillage to a no-till or reduced-till system, and cover crops. The Wetlands Reserve Easement Program is a great option for land that is getting increasingly hard to farm due to increased ponding or flooding. The program pays landowners for a conservation easement, which takes the land out of agricultural production and restores it to its natural wetland functions. These two pictures show a before and after of farm fields that were voluntarily taken out of corn production on the left and restored to shallow wetland ponds on the right. The Conservation Reserve Program is a land conservation program administered by the Farm Service Agency. In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. In summary, the Northeast is experiencing increased temperatures, especially in winter, more extreme temperatures, increased rainfall, and increased frequency of intense rainfall. These trends are predicted to continue. Improving natural resources on the farm through Climate Smart Farming can significantly help farmers be resilient to these changes. Climate Smart Farming includes addressing landscape vulnerability, improving soil health, and increasing the health and diversity of biological organisms above and below ground. The USDA can help with Climate Smart Farming through providing information, on-farm technical assistance and planning, and financial assistance for Climate Smart Farming practices. Please contact your local NRCS conservationist for more information. Finally, thank you for what you do. If you are a farmer, thank you for providing food to our country and for your interest in Climate Smart Farming. If you assist a landowner or farmer, thank you for your service. For more information and to sign up for the Northeast Climate Hub's quarterly newsletter, please visit our website.