2018 Farm Bill: Integrate CSP with the larger sustainability movement
In our ongoing discussion of the
next farm bill, I want us to consider carefully the Conservation Stewardship
Program (CSP), which has become the largest USDA conservation program for private
working lands.
Of immediate interest, of course,
is the 2016 sign up, continuing through March 31. NRCS is making available $150
million through CSP this year, which is expected to bring an additional 10
million acres to the CSP rolls with a goal of improving soil and air quality,
increasing water quality and enhancing wildlife habitats.
As we noted this past December,
NRCS Chief Jason Weller intends to overhaul the program this summer and then
announce changes in October for 2017. Again I would urge the Chief to further
engage the agricultural community, particularly commercial agriculture, through
listening sessions to ensure that producers have another opportunity to provide
input on the program. I would expect this to be a topic at every NRCS state
technical committee this spring and summer. We need to look closely at the
enhancements under consideration to be sure they work well for sustainable
intensification of production agriculture.
As we look forward to the next
farm bill, and legislative changes in CSP, I would encourage Congress to
conduct oversight hearings on the program. It is difficult to determine the
program’s effectiveness given the data available to the public. While I believe
CSP is making a strong contribution to soil, air and water quality and wildlife
habitat, I really don’t have access to sufficient data to make an informed
judgment. Oversight hearings can bring needed transparency to the program, and
Congressional committees should make it a priority to hold them. Making the
program more transparent should be an important goal for the 2018 Farm Bill.
Looking beyond the present and
the upcoming administrative changes, I see a number of opportunities to
strengthen CSP. For example, in earlier farm bills, CSP was deemed not
applicable to confined livestock operations. But in fact, a number of
management practices now supported by CSP are appropriate for livestock
operations and could further improve water and air quality as they have done
through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, provided livestock operations
were eligible for CSP. We need to have
systems approaches to waste management that reconnect the water and nutrient
cycles on our farms and ranches. CSP could go long way down that path.
I would also like to see our
legislators consider how to integrate CSP with the larger sustainability
movement. Key to most sustainability efforts is data. We need to move beyond
just implementing practices to demonstrating results. Let’s develop some
information-based CSP enhancements.
What about a nominal CSP
enhancement for producers who participate in Field to Market or another
conservation metric that gathers data to indicate environmental improvements? And
what about a more significant payment if the CSP participant is willing to
provide that data to NRCS, NASS or RMA, with appropriate confidentiality
safeguards, further enhancing USDA’s data on results?
Let’s face it. Filling out
records to substantiate the success of conservation measures takes time, and we
could encourage more farmers to participate in sustainability efforts and pull
together and share helpful information if we provided at least a little
compensation for doing so. The return for the taxpayer would be greater
certainty that the practices they funded are as effective as possible.
We need to bring conservation
into the information age. Knowledge-based conservation is the wave of the
future. Sustainability programs recognize this. Let’s piggyback on them to
demonstrate the value of conservation practices and make better informed policy
decisions. We say we support continuous improvement. Let’s gather the data that
attests to the value of that improvement.
The 2018 Farm Bill offers a good
opportunity to make legislative adjustments to CSP. Let’s scrutinize the
program carefully now, well in advance of the first drafts of a new farm bill,
and come together on changes that can strengthen CSP and conservation.
About the author: Bruce I.
Knight, Principal, Strategic Conservation Solutions, was the Under Secretary
for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, Knight served as Chief of Natural
Resources Conservation Service. The South Dakota native worked on Capitol Hill
for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Fred Grandy, Iowa, and Sen. James
Abdnor, South Dakota. In addition, Knight served as vice president for public
policy for the National Corn Growers Association and also worked for the
National Association of Wheat Growers. A third-generation rancher and farmer
and lifelong conservationist, Knight operates a diversified grain and cattle
operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems
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