Diversity in Conservation Leadership

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
at the Partnership Diversity Summit, Washington, DC
May 29, 2003

Good Morning. Thank you, Charles [Adams]. Good morning, partners. It is a pleasure to be here with you this week to discuss diversity in providing conservation services.

USDA is being held increasingly responsible for delivering Agriculture programs to all citizens in this country, and that responsibility flows through agreements and contracts to everywhere Federal dollars are involved. NRCS and all of its partners must live up to this responsibility in everything we do, from meetings with landowners to delivery of services.

The scope of conservation under the new farm bill only increases the obligation to serve all producers equally. The scope of the farm bill also increases the scrutiny of how well we are meeting this obligation. How well live up to this obligation shows up in our customer base.

We have been monitoring that part of our effort fairly closely in recent years. But living up to our obligations also shows up in our leadership structure, and that has only recently been monitored. As a result of a Congressional hearing last year and the U.S. Commission on Civil Right’s 10-year study review of NRCS, we are keeping track of diversity on State Technical Committees, Resource Development and Conservation Councils, and Conservation District Boards.

We are here this week together to look at those numbers and talk about what they mean in terms of local leadership and how that might affect local participation in conservation. We’ll look at the numbers in some detail later in the meeting, but I can say that there are some geographic areas of under representation we should look at.

In the conservation partnership, we all believe strongly in local leadership. And I maintain that local leadership has become even more important, given the scope of conservation in the 2002 farm bill. The size of the farm bill opens up many opportunities for farmers and ranchers. It is all of our duty to make sure local leadership is structured to meet the needs of everyone, including underserved groups in the producer community.

The farm bill makes more resources available to more farmers than ever before. It is important that we all work hard to extend the benefits of the farm bill to everyone who is eligible. That means doubling our efforts to serve all kinds of farmers. It means reaching out to all communities. It means being open, fair, courteous, and responsive to all farmers and ranchers.

As we all know, local leadership is important because it allows farmers and ranchers to reach their conservation goals the right way – through local decision making. I have told groups all over the country that the purpose of the farm bill is to help every landowner reach his or her conservation goals. We can only do this if we are serving every landowner equally.

Working together, we have the power to take conservation around the nation to a new level. What we need to do these two days is look at our diversity commitments, come up with some new ideas and creative ways to advance diversity in the new millennium, and come up with an action plan that all of us will support and implement.

I look forward to our discussions of diversity in local conservation delivery and local conservation leadership. Thank you.