Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a five-part series, “Getting Grounded,” that examines the nation's conservation delivery system and the mounting challenges facing farmers in getting the help and advice they need to select, plan and implement practices that can improve water and air quality, reduce water usage, increase wildlife habitat, make farms more climate-resilient, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
When Minnesota livestock producers need comprehensive nutrient management plans to secure funding for waste-related projects through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, they turn to Amy Robak.
Each year, Robak, the lead environmental specialist at Centra Sota Cooperative, cranks ou
Amy Robak
t 30 to 40 of the complex documents, which can span a hundred pages or more. But her qualifications don’t end there — she can just as easily work up soil health and pest management plans and has credentials to help producers with at least 15 other practices certified by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Soon, she’ll add organic certification to the list.
Robak’s an NRCS-approved technical service provider (TSP), a private-sector conservation specialist able to help producers plan conservation projects, fill out paperwork and otherwise perform duties normally left to agency staff. Farmers who turn to her for assistance may already be doing business with Centra Sota, may have had trouble finding help at their local NRCS office, or may distrust the federal government entirely.
Regardless of the reason, she’s got no shortage of business. And with more producers enrolling in federal conservation programs amid an influx of new conservation dollars, interest in her services has only grown.
“It’s a good position to be in,” she said. “It’s just a lot of work.”
As NRCS attempts to dole out an extra $16.5 billion in conservation dollars to farmers on top of the funding it normally handles under the farm bill, TSPs could prove useful in shouldering some of the burden. Much like the agency’s own staff, these outside professionals can help producers draft management plans and implement conservation practices. NRCS, in turn, reimburses producers for some of the expense of hiring them.
“A lot of times it brings us a lot of boots on the ground and, sometimes, expertise we don’t have,” NRCS Chief Terry Cosby said of the TSP program at a House Ag Committee hearing last year.
While the TSP program holds potential for helping the agency meet its workload, actually getting conservation professionals interested in participating can be a challenge, according to TSPs and conservation policy experts interviewed by Agri-Pulse. Unclear registration processes, certification requirements, limited payment rates, the program’s reimbursement model and intricacies surrounding eligibility are among the reasons cited.
“It’s not a fun business to be in,” said Jason Gomes, a TSP based in Iowa. “There’s a lot of crap that goes with it.”
Adding to these challenges, TSPs say, are unfriendly attitudes staff in some local or state NRCS offices hold towards them and the program in general, though they don’t necessarily exist everywhere in the agency. While the motivations behind these attitudes are not always clear, some NRCS staffers may feel that TSPs pose a threat to their jobs, while others may be bothered that valuable technical assistance dollars are going to third-party contractors.
“There clearly are in parts of NRCS some antipathy toward building out the TSP program,” said Alex Echols, the agriculture program specialist at the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.
Chuck ConnerNRCS leaders have worked internally to increase TSP enrollment and address frustrations some have voiced about the program. They’ve created a branch of the agency focused solely on TSP work, nationalized the certification process and signed memorandums with groups aimed at streamlining enrollment for professionals with professional certifications. Lawmakers, too, have proposed reforming the program through the upcoming farm bill in hopes of boosting enrollment.
Despite its perceived flaws, Chuck Conner, the president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and a former deputy and acting agriculture secretary, believes the TSP program will be essential if the agency hopes to fulfill its increasing workload. While NRCS leaders have mounted an ambitious hiring push and are looking to outside groups and retirees to help handle workloads in short-staffed areas, TSPs represent another important piece of the capacity puzzle, he said.
“We’re never going to be in a circumstance, I don’t think, where NRCS is awash with people,” Conner said, adding, “We’ve got no choice but to make it work.”
TSP program has seen ups and downs in participation since first launched
The 2002 farm bill paved the way for the use of TSPs, allowing farmers to receive technical assistance from non-NRCS sources for farm bill conservation assistance. The change, according to a 2009 fact sheet, was intended to help the agency manage the “significant workload” presented by farm bill programs.
Based on data provided to Agri-Pulse through a Freedom of Information Act request, TSP numbers peaked in 2004 at around 2,196, before dropping to 1,141 by 2009. “Anecdotal information suggested that TSPs had become frustrated with NRCS and the TSP program,” a 2011 Congressional Research Service report said of the decline during that period.
TSP numbers surged over the next three years, reaching 2,099 in 2012. While data gaps cloud what TSP availability looked like 2013 and 2014, the overall number of active, certified TSPs began to fall after 2015, eventually dropping to a low of 1,023 in 2023.
The number of active, certified TSPs has risen slightly in the last year, but remains below what it was five years ago, according to the data. As of Oct. 15, there were 1,057 active TSPs certified with the agency. That’s more than the 1,023 certified in 2023, but fewer than the 1,273 recognized in 2019.
Cosby said at the 2023 hearing that the agency has been working to improve the program with the aim of increasing enrollment. Last year, the agency created a TSP branch containing staff focused on helping to certify TSPs and oversee the program, according to a slide presentation obtained by Agri-Pulse.
The new arm of the agency includes a branch chief, program manager, three regional coordinators and 50 “collateral duty” state TSP coordinators. At the time, it was also working to hire four regional certifiers, according to the presentation.
“It’s very important to our delivery system to have TSPs on the ground to help us do this important work,” Cosby told lawmakers of the agency’s efforts to improve the program.
An agency memo from 2023 indicates that in 2019, 278 of TSP applications had been pending for more than 60 days. Some had been submitted more than two years earlier, it said. At that time, the agency also used a state-by-state certification process, according to the document, which was obtained by Agri-Pulse through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Part 3 of Getting Grounded: USDA works to train up a new generation of conservationists
Part 4 of Getting Grounded: Soil science education shift challenges USDA conservationist hiring
Since then, however, the agency has restructured the program in hopes of easing these delays and making it simpler for TSPs to enroll. These efforts appear to have paid off; the memo, which Agri-Pulse obtained last summer, said that since 2020, there had been no applications over 60 days in process.
Still, a report by the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment asserts the existing TSP system “does not function adequately, leaving many agriculture producers without access to the timely delivery of critical conservation technical assistance.” The report says the system is “cumbersome and difficult to navigate” and that TSPs are “not fairly compensated.”
“When you look at the adoption and utilization of TSP’s, it has really lagged,” Echols, who helped author the report, told Agri-Pulse.
In written responses to questions, NRCS spokesperson Justin Fritscher said the agency is “committed to increasing TSP enrollment, as it is an avenue for increasing customer service and conservation implementation.”
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In addition to establishing the TSP branch, the agency is also crafting MOUs with conservation practitioner groups to streamline certifications and conducting outreach to stir up interest, he added.
Registration and certification cited as past challenges for prospective TSPs
Ruth McCabe wanted to become a TSP years ago. The Iowa-based agronomist was hired by Heartland Cooperative in 2020 to help expand the company’s conservation efforts. She knew that becoming certified to do NRCS work would not only help connect more farmers to conservation resources, but also bring in some additional revenue for her company.
McCabe says she sent email after email seeking information on how to go through the process in Iowa, with no response. She asked a few district conservationists, who she said warned her that she wasn’t “going to get anywhere with that.”
Ruth McCabe
While McCabe finally reached a few people who walked her through a series of steps she could take, she quickly ran into “brick walls” when trying to follow through. And when she’d reach back out to those same employees for additional clarification, she’d get no response, she said.
“It’s just this black hole,” she said. “You get no answers from anyone.”
In 2021, after McCabe had “rattled everyone’s cages” in her quest to become a TSP, she said she and some other Heartland Cooperative Employees finally got an opportunity to sit down with state officials. McCabe said she brought up her challenges with the TSP process and asked how she could go about getting certified. But it was “like talking to a brick wall,” she said.
“They were kind of dodging our questions, not giving us a real reason as to why we were not allowed to be TSPs or what the proper route was to become a TSP,” said Will Hoffman, another Heartland Cooperative employee who was present. He said he and McCabe left the meeting “more confused than when we walked in.”
However, some of the confusion may have stemmed from miscommunication between both parties about the reason for the meeting, McCabe said.
McCabe’s situation doesn’t appear to be unique. Echols reported hearing similar confusion from other prospective TSPs over the processes for registering and getting certified, which he described as “mercurial” and “not at all clear.” Kevin Norton, who formerly served as NRCS’s acting chief, associate chief and state conservationist for Louisiana, said he’s heard complaints from prospective TSPs about their efforts to reach out to the agency being met with no response.
“They’ve never made it easy,” Gomes, who successfully registered as a TSP in Iowa in 2008, said of NRCS. “I think any reasonable person would question whether they even want to work with people at all.”
Fritscher, the NRCS spokesperson, said the current process to become a certified TSP is “based on a national criteria and aims to ensure consistency throughout the program.” It does not vary state to state, but may include “state-specific requirements, typically those that reflect a state law to perform certain work that must be incorporated into approval,” he added.
He said TSPs can “go through three options to become certified: Professional Certification, Education and Experience or Experience only.” Each pathway contains specific criteria needed to meet NRCS standards and “specifications including technical training and providing a sample of work to ensure competency of the TSP.”
The agency is updating its TSP website “to provide clear, step by step, written guidance with links to supporting information so all TSPs have access to them," he said. A new certification interface “will provide clarity in what is needed, how to submit those requirements, and where the TSP is in the process.”
The agency has also created regional coordinators who can help prospective TSPs get certified, recertified or update existing certifications, Fritscher said. “When a potential applicant submits a request, the respective Regional Coordinator provides a welcome package outlining the steps to become a TSP,” he added. “This will help alleviate the variations in responses.”
According to the 2023 memo, certified TSPs must complete two NRCS courses outlining their duties and the agency’s technical materials. They must also sign an agreement with the agency outlining their responsibilities and submit information on their qualifications. TSP’s may seek certification for 188 practices, though each requires them to meet different criteria.
“Is it rigorous? Yes. Is it needed? Probably,” Robak, the Minnesota TSP, said of the certification process, noting that it does help to ensure professionals have the knowledge and skills required to effectively help farmers.
TSPs are expected to renew their certifications every three years, said Dennis Godar, a TSP who operates out of Illinois, but is also qualified to work in 10 other states. He said he’s been through six renewals after initially becoming certified in 2003.
“Seems like every single time, there’s some kind of glitch and there’s usually some additional requirements that are needed,” he said.
Through memoranda of understanding, the agency has been working to try to create more simplified routes to certify individuals who already have professional certifications through third-party organizations like the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The most recent iteration of these was signed just last month, according to Luther Smith, the chief administrative officer of the ASA, SSSA and the Crop Science Society of America.
The two newly signed MOUs — one covering the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America — give conservation professionals already recognized as certified crop advisers (CCAs) or certified professional soil scientists (CPSSs) a direct pathway for becoming TSPs. In order to receive these certifications, professionals are already required to pass multiple exams, sign a code of ethics and have relevant work experience or academic credentials, Smith said.
Through the MOUs, these professionals will simply need to take an hour-long orientation course to get a better understanding of the agency and how to “speak NRCS.
Dennis Godar
” Then, they will need to sign paperwork acknowledging they completed this course, meet state-level requirements and have the qualifications needed for the practices they plan to work on. After that, they should be certified.
Through this streamlined process, CCAs could obtain TSP certifications for 39 different practices while CPSSs could receive certifications for 24. They would still need to renew their credentials every three years, but the process would be as simple as the first time they were certified so long as they maintain their respective CCA and CPSS statuses.
“I’m hopeful that it’ll make it easier to get in the door, so to speak, and get started,” Smith said of the new system.
The TSP Access Act, a bill proposed by Reps. Jim Baird, R-Ind., and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., also aims to speed up the process. Under the bill, agricultural retailers, conservation organizations, cooperatives, professional societies and other non-federal entities could be delegated the authority to certify individuals as TSPs.
The bill would also set a deadline for the agency to approve certifications and create a streamlined certification process for CCAs or other conservation professionals with “appropriate specialty certifications.” Language from the bill has been incorporated into this year’s House farm bill and is likely also included in Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats’ draft bill, based on the framework released by Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., earlier this year.
“It has always been our position that ag retail should work in concert with NRCS, not in lieu of them,” Hunter Carpenter, the senior director of public policy at the Agricultural Retailers Association, said of the legislation in an email to Agri-Pulse. “We simply see the streamlining of the certification process as a great first step in increasing assistance to growers.”
Some conservation professionals have found it difficult to get certified at all due to agency rules.
When Jennifer Byrne, the district manager for the White River Natural Resources Conservation District, a local government entity in Eastern Vermont, was looking for another source of revenue to help sustain her office’s work, she saw the TSP program as an opportunity. Conservation districts like White River are subdivisions of state government and are overseen by locally elected boards. They share a long history with NRCS and do similar work, just on a more local scale.
Jennifer ByrneAfter White River hired a forester able to write forest management plans, Byrne thought it’d be a good idea to get the employee certified as a TSP. But she soon discovered that agency rules barred any of the conservation district’s employees from doing so, since White River was locked into an agreement allowing it to share office space with NRCS and use two of the agency’s computers.
No funding is provided through the agreement, Byrne said. And the White River forester who was hoping to get certified uses neither the office space nor the computers, she added. But they still work for White River and as a result, can’t be certified as a TSP.
“It’s like they built this whole system for independent contractors that they have now cut the local conservation district out of if we are collaborating with NRCS, which we should be,” Byrne said. “It’s like punishing us for having an unfunded cooperative agreement with them.”
Frictions with local staff, concerns about payment structure can discourage TSPs
More than three-and-a-half years ago, Jed Freitas, a California-based TSP, was enlisted to help a Colusa County rancher design a stock water project. Last year, after the two had spent a couple of years planning the project, the rancher finally secured funding for his EQIP application. But when the county’s district conservationist reached out with information on next steps, he told the rancher that Freitas was not certified to provide TSP services, according to emails Freitas shared with Agri-Pulse.
After Freitas objected to this, state NRCS officials apologized, acknowledging he was indeed certified. “First and foremost, NRCS should not have told your client that you are NOT certified to perform TSP services,” California State Conservation Engineer Greg Norris told Freitas in an email on May 11 of last year.
In the heat of the situation, an area NRCS engineer came in and took over design work on the project, which was eventually submitted and used. At the end of it all, Freitas said he never got paid for the design work he did — despite being recognized as qualified.
“If this is what the policy is — where NRCS can just rub me out of the process after I spent a bunch of time and the client specifically requested to work with me — it’s a problem,” Freitas told Agri-Pulse. “And when other TSPs find out that that's the policy, if they’re halfway smart, they’re going to throw up the white flag and bail.”
Fritscher, the NRCS spokesperson, said occurrences like this are “extremely rare” and “not the intent or focus of the program.” He added that TSPs have successfully assisted thousands of landowners since the program’s inception.
Pointing to the situation in Colusa County, Freitas said TSPs can face unfriendly attitudes when trying to work with certain NRCS offices. Other TSPs and conservation professionals acknowledged that tense relationships between TSPs and NRCS office staff can — and do — exist in some places. According to Zach Gihorski, the director of government affairs and sustainability for the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, these frictions often come down to one major question: “Do you view us as competition or do you view us as a cooperative piece?”
Tensions between TSPs and office staff don’t necessarily exist everywhere. Freitas said he has a great relationship with many of the offices in other parts of California. Robak said she’s pretty well respected by NRCS staff in Minnesota, who rely on her to help them handle increasing workloads. While Godar said he’s encountered some unfriendliness in local offices in the past, he believes these occurrences mostly just stem from “human nature.”
“It comes down to the personalities, sometimes, that are involved in that office,” said Smith, the chief administrative officer of the American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America and Crop Science Society of America.
NRCS leaders do have a responsibility to ensure third-party professionals are meeting the agency’s standards when helping producers, said Norton, the former NRCS acting and associate chief. If a TSP isn’t registered or does not provide services to the NRCS’s requirements, their pay will be withheld until they comply, according to the Keith Campbell Foundation report.
Kevin Norton“The reality is, sometimes the TSPs don’t do the work up to a standard,” Norton said, adding that these situations often end with a “substantial discussion” with the producer about what will be required to bring the work up to NRCS’s requirements. Producers then must return to the TSP to request they do the extra work, which can be an uncomfortable conversation, especially if the TSP feels their work was satisfactory.
Through website improvements, written guidance, in-person and virtual training sessions, and direct support for TSPs, Fritscher said the agency is working to improve its interaction with third-party conservation professionals.
“NRCS staff are asking for the tools and training so the end products, these conversations and outcomes, are consistent, accurate, and collaborative,” he said. “We all want the projects and the customer experience to be valuable. We’ve learned that utilizing a third-party professional to help achieve that goal truly demands clear policy and guidance.”
By adding national and regional coordinators to the agency’s roster, Fritscher said NRCS is hoping to “provide direct support when there is a miscommunication or misinterpretation of our policy at the state and local levels.”
“We aim to be diligent as an agency and recognize the skills and abilities of our TSPs, compensate them appropriately for the work that they complete, and maintain a collaborative approach,” he added.
Frietas, the California TSP, believes the agency should create a system with arbiters, like judges, who can resolve disputes between field offices and TSPs.
The TSP program operates under a reimbursement system, in which producers pay TSPs and then are reimbursed for portions of the cost. But unless TSPs request producers pay upfront for their services, it may take a while for them to be compensated for their work.
“If they work in the private sector, they have to be able to make a living,” Smith said. “That’s just the reality of it. So does it fit their business model or can they adjust to make it fit? That’s going to come down to the individuals and the businesses involved.”
It can be a challenging business model to make work, according to the TSPs and conservation professionals interviewed by Agri-Pulse. “I don’t know that anybody who does it really likes it that well,” Gomes, the Iowa TSP, told Agri-Pulse.
Godar, the Illinois TSP, said it may be six months or more before he is able to secure a payment for a project he’s worked on. He’s made it work by having a lot of projects “in the pipeline” at one time, though he noted that can be challenging for someone who’s just beginning with the program.
Freitas, the California TSP, said he used to operate under a similar strategy. He’d build up a pipeline of projects, which he hoped would result in a somewhat-reliable stream of income. He aimed to do as much work as he could so that if he got “screwed out of 15 percent of it, the other 85% would make up for it.”
But Freitas has since switched his business strategy, requiring producers to fork over some money upfront for his consulting work, since he's never sure if they'll actually choose to move forward with the project and he must spend money on flights and gas to visit their farms and ranches because he works across a broad swath of the Western U.S.
Godar suggested changing the structure to allow TSPs to get paid for half of their work upfront and half afterward. This, he said, would provide a more reliable stream of income while still incentivizing them to do the work.
Alex EcholsEchols, with the Keith Campbell Foundation, said TSP payments often don’t cover the full cost of the design, engineering or planning work being done. He added that “current rates are not very enticing when we’re talking about convincing private-sector experts to go through the process of getting certified.”
He also believes there may be some disparities between what TSPs are paid and what NRCS employees are paid. Producers often receive up to 75% cost-share for the practices they implement, leaving them to pay the difference. This means offering TSPs a full payment for their services requires producers to pitch in some additional money for services that would otherwise be provided at no cost by NRCS, or for the TSP to discount their rates.
Additionally, the Keith Campbell Foundation report says TSPs are reimbursed for “actual labor costs,” but adds: “When comparing the rates with the technical assistance provided by a comparable NRCS employee, it is hard to determine if the hourly rate used for the TSP also reflects the personnel benefits and other costs associated with equipment and placing the federal employee ‘in-the-field.’ Failure to include some level of adjustment to hourly rates to place TSPs on par with federal employees results in an inherent bias and places the producer-acquired TSP at a marketplace disadvantage.”
“Why should somebody who’s in the private sector expect to get a reduced level compared to what it would cost the government to do it? That just seems kind of odd.” Echols said. “I’m all for efficiency in use of public funds, but there ought to be parity about that.”
