President's budget eliminates working lands program

Last week, our federal government made a sobering statement: It proposed to eliminate the nation’s largest working lands conservation program, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). This was done as part of the president’s larger budget, an annual, lengthy set of proposals to Congress; the latest was released last week. Although the decision to preserve CSP ultimately lies at the feet of Congress, it is deeply troubling that the agency tasked with administering the program has publicly proposed to eliminate it. For those who are new to this debate: CSP provides an important support for our farmers to enact soil and water conservation practices on their land, which is particularly valuable during a time of low commodity prices. CSP is a voluntary working lands program. “Voluntary” means farmers can opt in. “Working lands” means that, unlike with its older cousin the Conservation Reserve Program, farmers enrolled in CSP can continue to produce on their land. Both of these traits lend to CSP’s appeal to farmers. CSP is also comprehensive. In enrolling, farmers have the valuable opportunity to step back and work out how to increase conservation on their whole operation – and then, work with a government conservation professional to figure out how to make that happen. Once enrolled in a five-year contract, farmers adopt a suite of conservation practices tailored to fit both their farm and their previous experience with conservation. These practices range from planting cover crops to rotational grazing of livestock to adopting precision pesticide application.