A Growing Investment in Conservation

Remarks by Gary A. Margheim, Special Assistant to the Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service at the Joint Wheat Industry Meeting

Washington, DC,
March 15, 2004

Thank you, Daren Coppock, Alan Tracy, and Barbara Spangler for inviting Chief Knight to be with you today. Unfortunately, his flight back to Washington has been cancelled, but I am here to substitute for him.

It is a pleasure to address all of you from the National Association of Wheat Growers, the U.S. Wheat Associates, and the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee.

I am honored to share the program with Secretary Veneman; Adam Sharp, Agricultural Counselor to EPA Administrator Leavitt; and U.S. Trade Representative Zoellick.

Chief Knight asked me to talk about three things today: funding for technical assistance, funding for NRCS conservation programs, and implementation of the new Conservation Security Program.

These are three important factors in ushering in what the Chief likes to call the next golden age of conservation.

This golden age will be based on the kinds of sound, science-driven conservation that comes from good technical assistance, the increased amount of conservation that will take place due to the Administration’s unprecedented investment in conservation, and the combined approach of rewarding conservation efforts while stimulating additional effort, as embodied in the Conservation Security Program.


Funding for Technical Assistance

Let me first talk about technical assistance. There are two primary means of obtaining technical assistance: technical assistance included as part of the farm bill programs and technical assistance included as part of the regular NRCS operating budget. Both kinds wind up helping farmers and ranchers, so it makes sense to consider both kinds of assistance and not just look at one kind by itself.

Farm Bill-Funded Technical Assistance

Total technical assistance for farm bill programs in fiscal year 2004 is up by about $70 million – or nearly 30 percent from last year. That money comes from four donor programs, but it covers technical assistance for all eight farm bill programs. Last year, we obligated nearly $24 million to allow farmers and ranchers to obtain technical assistance through Technical Service Providers. This year it will be $40 million.

NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance

The 2004 budget includes more than $623 million for NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance – CTA. The President’s budget proposal for 2005 contains less money for Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) than we have this year. However, the proposed funding for farm bill programs is up in 2005, and that increase will make more technical assistance available for implementing the farm bill programs. There will be enough technical assistance work to keep NRCS employees occupied, plus additional work to accomplish through Technical Service Providers.

The 2005 budget request continues the practice of funding both financial assistance and technical assistance for the farm bill conservation programs from program funds – with one exception: the President is recommending creating a Farm Bill Technical Assistance Account, which would be a new source of appropriated funding for the technical assistance needed to deliver the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Conservation Reserve Program. The President has proposed $92 million for this account.

Establishing a separate appropriated account for this purpose will substantially reduce the amount of funding that would have to be redirected from other farm bill programs and maximize the amount of financial assistance available to assist producers.

Technical assistance for the other farm bill programs will come from the mandatory funding for those programs.


Program Funding

Now, let me talk a bit about funding, both for the current fiscal year and next fiscal year. This year’s Consolidated Appropriations Act provides $1.5 billion for farm bill programs this fiscal year. That means there is more than a quarter of a billion dollars in additional financial assistance available this year under farm bill programs – an increase of about 30 percent.

EQIP – our largest program – accounts for most of that increase. But we also have increases in the Grassland Reserve Program (nearly $32 million), the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (nearly $11 million), the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (nearly $10 million), and Ground and Surface Water Conservation – which is part of EQIP ($6 million).

2005 Funding

The President’s budget request for 2005 supports the continued implementation of the farm bill. The total program funding for farm bill conservation programs in 2005 is $3.9 billion, which includes approximately $2 billion for the Conservation Reserve Program. An unprecedented investment in conservation that will have significant and long-lasting environmental benefits. This is up from $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 when this Administration took office and up $385 million or almost 11 percent over 2004. This investment is intended to promote conservation efforts, personal stewardship, and responsibility.

The budget request includes increases in important programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Reserve Program, and Conservation Security Program. The amounts are: $2 billion for the Conservation Reserve Program, an increase of $76 million; $1 billion for EQIP, an increase of $25 million; $295 million for the Wetlands Reserve Program to enroll an additional 200,000 acres; $125 million for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, an increase of $13 million; and $421 million for several other programs -- the Grassland Reserve Program, Ground and Surface Water Conservation, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (up $18 million), the new Conservation Security Program, and water conservation and water quality enhancements in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and California. The proposed budget for the Conservation Security Program alone is $209 million, up from $41 million.

The budget also supports USDA’s efforts to implement the President’s Management Agenda, which focuses on improving performance and results in government. For example, the budget contains funding to improve customer service through continued modernization of technology.

There is $137 million in FY 2005, an increase of $18 million, to upgrade technology in local USDA Service Centers. Additional funding is intended to strengthen the security of the Department’s facilities and information technology.


CSP Implementation

Finally, I would like to take a minute to bring you up to date on the Conservation Security Program – CSP. CSP is one of the most exciting provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill. There are many reasons to be excited about this new program.

First, it is a new approach. It will recognize conservation achievements on working farm and ranch lands by identifying and rewarding farmers and ranchers who are meeting high standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations.

Second, it is a unique approach. No other Federal conservation program rewards agricultural producers for their overall conservation effort.

Third, it will help producers maintain existing conservation stewardship and make additional environmental gains by implementing additional conservation measures.

CSP will motivate producers to be better stewards by recognizing producers who practice good stewardship and provide the environmental benefits that society expects, CSP provides strong incentives for producers to improve their stewardship sufficiently to fully participate in the program. In short, as Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has said, “CSP will reward the best and motivate the rest.”

The conservation benefits gained through CSP will improve the condition of the resources on our farms and ranches and enhance natural resources for the public as a whole.

We issued the proposed rule for CSP on January 2, with a 60-day public comment period. That comment period closed March 2. We held more than 30 public forums around the country and received comments from nearly 12,000 individuals and groups. I hope many of you were able to submit comments.

We now begin the long process of considering all of these comments and coming up with a final rule that will work to the benefit of all farmers and ranchers and society as a whole.

There have been a couple of announcements recently concerning funding for CSP. On January 23, President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, which included $41 million for CSP during the current fiscal year. This will allow us to sign just about 3,000 contracts this year, which will get CSP off to a good start, once the final rule is in place.

On February 2, the President submitted his 2005 budget request to Congress. That request contained $209 million for CSP, a 400 percent increase, which would allow us to sign an additional 12,000 contracts.


Conclusion

Thank you, again, for inviting Chief Knight to be here today. We at NRCS are excited about all we – America’s farmers and ranchers and USDA – can accomplish through the provisions of the 2002 farm bill.

We already have seen some dramatic results. For example, last year, we signed 32,000 EQIP contracts, worth $483 million. This year, we will match that and add another $200 million.

But the Federal conservation dollar is not the entire story. Farmers and ranchers across the country keep us well supplied with applications to participate in all of the Federal conservation programs – and they put up their own money in the form of cost sharing.

In addition, local conservation leaders are bringing in increased amounts of funding from other sources, whether it be from States, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, or others. All of these investments mean that more producers than ever before are able to reach their conservation goals.

And, soon, the new Conservation Security Program will be in place to recognize these accomplishments and provide an additional incentive to do even more. Then, we will truly be in the next golden age of conservation.

Thank you.