Applicants for fiscal 2023 funding under USDA's Regional Conservation Partnership Program are seeking $2.2 billion, more than four times the $500 million available.
Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Terry Cosby told Agri-Pulse he was “astounded” by the strong interest in RCPP funding, about half of which comes from the farm bill and half from the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency received more than 160 applications, according to NRCS.
Bruce Knight, a conservation policy consultant who served as NRCS chief during the George W. Bush administration, said he believes part of the demand for RCPP this year came from applicants who could not secure funding under the $3.1 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.
A USDA spokesperson said the agency does not have any statistics on “how many of the selected RCPP applications were born out of partnerships initially forged through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity,” but said the agency did encourage Partnerships applicants to look at other opportunities like RCPP.
Knight expects high interest in RCPP to continue into next year’s sign-up. He said more private companies have become interested in the RCPP program amid a “groundswell of consumer interest” in conservation.
“Some of those companies weren't necessarily ready to go after climate-smart projects two years ago when those came out, but now are very ready to move with RCPP,” he said.
Jesse Womack, a policy specialist at NSAC, said he doesn’t necessarily believe this interest stems directly from the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. He said it’s more likely a result of NRCS “sending the signal” to groups to “keep brainstorming ideas” for partner-based conservation projects as it continues to implement programs like RCPP.
“Seeing that $2.2 billion in requested funds from partners is encouraging,” Womack said. “It means there are a lot of folks that are trying to do conservation work — and climate-focused conservation work in particular — at this moment in history, and we really need that.”
The RCPP program, first authorized in the 2014 farm bill, allows private sector organizations and state governments to partner with the USDA for conservation projects meant to address issues at the landscape scale. These projects can span regions or watersheds, like the Prairie Grasslands Region or the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Some USDA staff and partner organizations — according to a USDA slide presentation obtained by Agri-Pulse — have complained about the complexity of the program and its drawn-out proposal and contracting processes.
“It has frustrated some folks, in terms of the application process and going through it,” said Randy Russell with the lobbying firm the Russell Group. “I think USDA is very aware of that.”
USDA has been trying to streamline the program in order to get money out the door more quickly, Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie told Agri-Pulse.
According to the slide presentation, the agency has been looking to simplify agreements, the technical assistance structure, and the partner reimbursement process, while also reducing the length of easement transactions, improving the RCPP portal and making guidance for employees and partners more consistent.
“We're making incremental changes as we move,” Cosby said. “I put several teams together. You're going to see a different RCPP.”
Knight compared Cosby's efforts to overhaul RCPP to rolling a Ford Mustang into a body shop, replacing its parts and giving it a new coat of paint. While a lot of work has been done to prepare that vehicle for the road, the “jury’s still out on how fast that car can go,” Knight said.
“He’s done all the right moves to take and move RCPP into a different ability to deliver,” Knight said. “The real question will be: have they overhauled the contracting and the admin work enough to be able to deliver on the robust applications that they’ve received?”
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Conservation consultant Bruce KnightJulia Peebles, the director of agriculture and sustainability policy at Ducks Unlimited, said it is too early to gauge the effectiveness NRCS's streamlining efforts, but said she appreciates the outreach the agency has done to improve the program.
“Kudos to NRCS for listening to stakeholders and starting to hold meetings to understand and address concerns that are out there,” Peebles told Agri-Pulse.
Bridgit Collins, a senior policy adviser for agriculture at The Nature Conservancy, told Agri-Pulse her group was pleased to see the changes the agency has made so far. She added that TNC has been working with the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) and the Sustainable Supply Chain Coalition to “advance some additional ideas for the next farm bill that could further streamline RCPP.”
Russell, who lobbies for FACA, also said he expects lawmakers to include language in the farm bill proposing changes to RCPP's application and approval process. Peebles said Ducks Unlimited would like to see partners' abilities to provide technical assistance expanded.
Womack said one of his concerns is that USDA has likely felt pressure to prioritize larger contracts over smaller contracts to meet its obligation deadlines, particularly with the influx of IRA funding. Prioritizing large awards, however, can make it hard for smaller organizations to successfully secure applications for their own projects, Womack said.
“I think we’re going to see a problem in this round of awards, more than anything, where we might see the little guy get left behind,” Womack said.
The maximum amount of funding the agency is able to provide to an RCPP project is $10 million, while the minimum is $250,000.
Senate Ag Committee members have been looking at rolling about $17 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding into the farm bill, though they will likely only be able to bring in about $15.3 billion, or what the Congressional Budget Office expects the USDA will be able to spend by the time the IRA budget authority expires.
CBO estimates from May, for example, projected USDA will use only $3.8 billion of the $4.6 billion that was authorized for RCPP in the IRA. That would mean lawmakers would only be able to move $3.8 billion for the program into the farm bill.
Knight criticized CBO’s estimates, noting the high demand the agency saw in this year’s iteration of the program.
“I think the current, robust RCPP sign-up shows that CBO may be wrong in their assumptions,” Knight said.
An earlier version of this report used an incorrect number of RCPP applications, as provided by NRCS.
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