Golden Age -- Tough Choices

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief
Natural Resources Conservation Service

at the National Conference on Farm Bill Conservation Opportunities, St. Louis, MO

November 13, 2002

Thank you, Gary (Mast). It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning to help open the National Conference on Farm Bill Conservation Opportunities. The National Association of Conservation Districts and the Conservation Technology Information Center are performing a valuable service by sponsoring this conference.

The conference will give all of us a better understanding of what the 2002 farm bill means for us – whether we are producers who will have more conservation opportunities than ever before, or members of the conservation partnership, who will have almost too much to do in implementing the farm bill.

For producers, this is the start of the next golden age of conservation. More than $13 billion in funding for conservation over the next six years. And the good news is that the farm bill emphasizes conservation on working lands.

For members of the conservation partnership, this is the start of a period of change and challenges, as we gear up to help producers capitalize on this opportunity to meet their conservation goals.


FARM BILL IMPLEMENTATION

The broad outlines of what we hope to accomplish are clear, but the details are in transition. Six months ago, we were all celebrating the passage of the new farm bill, with its unprecedented investment in conservation on America’s working lands. We thought the biggest issue we faced was actually putting all this money to work on the land.

Many people thought we would have trouble finding enough farmers and ranchers willing to make the commitment needed to put this huge investment to work. True, there was a tremendous backlog of producers who had applied for various programs. Limited funds and acreage caps had prevented them from being accepted into the programs. But some folks thought that backlog was “soft.” That the strongest applications had already been accepted. That many of the remaining applicants might turn out to be ineligible or that eligible applicants might have lost interest. They predicted a “disappearing backlog.” They were wrong.

Today, six months later, we know that the backlog was real. The farm bill meant release of about $700 million for conservation programs late in the Federal fiscal year. NRCS offices around the country dusted off the old applications, took in new applications, assigned them priorities, and, by the end of the year, nearly the entire $700 million had been committed.

We funded more than 19,000 EQIP applications with $414 million in new Farm Bill money and more than 800 applications for WRP, with $274 million. Getting all that money invested in such a short time is a tribute to the preparedness of NRCS field offices, a lot of hard work done in a short time, and strong interest on the part of America’s farmers and ranchers. Even while we were working hard to commit the 2002 money, we were faced with making an even bigger investment for 2003.

The minute the new farm bill became law, NRCS and its partners began a massive effort to inform producers of the provisions of the new bill. USDA and NRCS both prepared farm bill web sites with the latest information. Those sites started small, but grew each week as more information became available. The Department put out more than 30 news releases on provisions of the farm bill. Customer Service Centers around the country held meetings and distributed materials. Partner organizations joined in with Web-based materials, print materials, and outreach activities of their own.

We told producers what funds and programs were available. We told them how the programs had become broader, opening opportunities to a wider array of producers. We told them about changing eligibility requirements. We told them it is now easier to participate – how priority areas and bidding are things of the past.

All of these activities produced results. Applications started rolling in. Today, we not only have enough applications to invest the 2003 farm bill money – we are back in the position of having a backlog of applications. EQIP alone now has a backlog of $1.4 billion nationwide. WRP has 2800 pending applications, amounting to 475,000 acres. FPP has more than $100 million in pending offers for easements.


IMPLEMENTING OUR CONSERVATION STRATEGY

Let’s assume for just a minute that implementing the farm bill is a basketball game and your are one of the coaches. If today was half time, what would you be telling the team?

First, you would say that we have put up some pretty impressive numbers during the first half. We got the word out with 30 news releases, 2 web sites, and countless meetings. We received thousands of applications. We are well positioned to invest more than a billion dollars this year.

But you would also point out that half time is the time to make adjustments and that we need to do some things differently to carry out our game plan and be sure of winning the game.


GET THE WORD OUT

The first thing we need to do is increase our effort to get the word out. We have reached a lot of producers with the farm bill message, but have we reached them all? I don’t think so.

A few weeks ago, just when I thought everyone in the world knew about the farm bill, I had a rancher in Colorado come up to me and ask why we hadn’t been doing anything to inform producers. We’ve had inquiries from congressional staffs about why we aren’t doing more to tell farmers and ranchers about the farm bill.

The word is getting out, but it has not reached everyone. This conference is another way of letting a wider range of producers know about the farm bill. Last week, USDA began a string of regional outreach conferences to reach more farmers and ranchers.

It might be fair to say we have reached those who are well tuned in to our usual –and even modern – ways of getting the word out. But, we have not done enough to reach other audiences -– especially the traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers, including minorities, women, and first-time farmers. We continue to be told of segments of the livestock and fruit and vegetable sectors who don’t know us or find us inaccessible.

The farm bill is designed to extend opportunities for every farmer and rancher to reach his or her conservation goals. To make that potential a reality, we have to reach out to every farmer and rancher. So, outreach is one of our strategies for the second half of the game.

When we see farmers and ranchers from all parts of the country and representing all parts of the producer community participating in farm bill implementation, we will know our strategy is successful.


FOCUS ON CONSERVATION GOALS

The second thing we have to do is focus more on conservation goals and less on programs. Having a lot of applications on file is a good feeling. It shows farmers and ranchers are interested and eager to participate. But our grand strategy is not to pile up a large number of applications. Our strategy is to get as much good, priority-based conservation done on the ground as we can.

Now that we are sure enough farmers and ranchers want to participate, we must move beyond numbers of applications to consider how to get the best and most conservation done. We need to look at how applications relate to a producer’s overall conservation goals. And we need to look at how applications relate to national and local conservation priorities.

The key to reaching individual and local conservation goals is to keep decisions at the local level. That is why we are creating rules that are “lean and local.” The rules are simple and leave the decision making to local officials.

When we see that we are accepting applications based on what they contribute to conservation on the farm and in the local community, we will know our strategy is successful.


GET MORE CONSERVATION DONE

The third thing we have to do is focus more on getting as much conservation done as we can, as widely as we can, rather than settling for getting the dollars out there. The foundation of our effort is to offer incentives to producers who practice conservation.

Part of the idea of incentives and cost-shares is to make it possible for producers to undertake conservation practices that they could not normally afford to do. Another part of the idea of incentives is to leverage tax dollars to get more conservation done. Our strategy should be to use incentives properly and not treat them as entitlements.

We need to look carefully at applications in a number of ways to be sure we are getting the most for the taxpayer dollar:

• We need to look at local farm and ranch communities to see how incentives and cost shares operate. The same cost share may not be needed everywhere at all times.

• We need to look at other sources of funds to see how to leverage the Federal dollar. The Federal government and the producers can get more conservation done when the cost is shared several ways. We cannot simply accept the first applications through the door, but must approve the applications that objectively rank as having the potential of doing the most conservation work. We cannot award all of the largest contracts, because there are smaller operations that need the incentives.

• We have to do what it takes to gain the participation of traditionally underserved segments of the producer community.

When we see that we are getting more conservation done per dollar of Federal investment, we will know this strategy is successful.


CONCLUSION

To summarize, let me say that we have had six months to celebrate the birth of the new golden age of conservation. We have made a strong start toward implementing the new farm bill, with its tremendous investment in conservation on working lands.

But to be successful in the long run, we need to be more strategic.

• We need to make sure every farmer and rancher knows about the farm bill and has a chance to participate.

• We need to focus more on overall conservation goals and less on program implementation. The measure of our success will be outcomes -- how well we help farmers and ranchers and communities reach their conservation goals, not how many acres we treat.

• And finally, we need to get the most conservation done that we can for the money. We need to use incentives properly, and we need to leverage the Federal funding.

Implementing these strategies will not be as simple as just getting the word out, having the applications roll in, and awarding the contracts. To get the job done, we must be more strategic – and that means choosing our options carefully. That is why I think of today both as the beginning of the next golden age of conservation and as the beginning of the age of tough choices.

By working together to make the right choices, we can make this new farm bill live up to its potential. I look forward to working with you all to make the next golden age of conservation a reality.