Fulfilling the Vision: Helping People Help the Land

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, at The National Organization of Professional Black NRCS Employees Training Conference

Little Rock, AR
December 13, 2005

Presentation of Awards

[Present plaque to Charles Adams] Charles, the words on this plaque recognize highlights of your career with the agency and commemorate your 38 years of service to NRCS. This tribute has been read into the Congressional Record. We all appreciate your commitment to the agency and your ongoing involvement with conservation and the Organization.

You have been a leader in the field of conservation. This plaque acknowledges the difference you have made—and are continuing to make—in serving farmers and the environment. Thank you!

I have one other award I want to present this morning—a new award we’re calling the NRCS Circle of Excellence. The first recipient is Charles Whitmore, and I’d like him to come forward now.

We have created the Circle of Excellence to recognize NRCS employees who epitomize support and loyalty to the agency, its mission, values and ideals. Knowing how much NRCS staffers like lapel pins, we’ve designed a special Circle of Excellence pin. We want it to be a source of pride to those who’ve earned it as well as a source of motivation for other employees.

It’s intended to foster the commitment we all share to conservation by honoring individuals who have distinguished themselves with their superior efforts. Charles Whitmore certainly embodies that commitment. Charles, we want you to wear this with pride, and we thank you for 35 years of outstanding commitment to NRCS, our customers and the environment.

Introduction

I’m delighted to recognize both these gentlemen and to be able to join the Organization in Little Rock this year. Attending our employee groups’ training sessions is very important to me—
and I’m sorry duty called me away from you all last year.

The Organization has been a valuable partner in helping us achieve a diverse workforce of conservation-minded professionals. You’ve also helped us better understand the concerns and needs of minority farmers and find creative ways to reach underserved communities and producers.

We have some unfinished business that you must help us finish. I want you to know I value the unique perspective you bring—as an organization—and as individuals—to NRCS.

I attend the employee meetings as an opportunity to listen to your views and appreciate your honesty and openness in sharing your heartfelt thoughts and professional recommendations. I also value the mentoring that occurs at this meeting.

I grew up in a different time and place from many of you. I didn’t see, much less experience, the racial divide some of you did. And while I thought I was cognizant of it, I’ve gained a greater appreciation by listening to some of you in this room and others I admire.

You’ve shared with me your individual stories. I pray that the youth in this room appreciate the leadership and vision and struggle that many in this room overcame.

Last year, during Black History Month, I visited Tuskegee Institute. I was honored to meet some of the Tuskegee Airmen, and I toured the George Washington Carver museum. It was a moving and monumental trip for me.

During Stewardship Week, I participated in a Grazing Grass-Fed Beef field day in Southeastern Alabama. The field day was sponsored by the Wiregrass Farmers Cooperative—and other local groups—supported by an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant. This effort to share conservation through demonstration was solidly linked to a faith-based commitment to help small, limited resource farmers address both their economic and resource concerns.

That was a wonderful day that showed me how the President’s faith-based initiative can—and should—work for conservation. I want you to know that we will soon be announcing additional opportunities for combining grazing and knowledge-based conservation targeted at limited resource farmers.

Implementing the 2002 Farm Bill

Let me turn now to the overarching vision for NRCS: helping people help the land.

As you know, our primary focus as an agency this year, and next,is implementing the 2002 farm bill. That’s job one for us.

Everything we do—individually and collectively—needs to contribute to that effort. Getting conservation on the ground is what we’re all about.

We want to be sure everyone is aware of our programs and has the opportunity to participate. We need to make sure our outreach is broad and effective. We also need to finish what we’ve begun—completing unfinished work from 2003 and 2004—as well as signing new contracts.

Cooperative Conservation

One of the keys to the 2002 farm bill, and I believe, the next farm bill, is cooperative conservation. This past August, President Bush sponsored a cooperative conservation conference that featured many success stories of locally-led, collaborative efforts to benefit the environment.

It was an opportunity for everyone to see how well incentives and partnerships can work in accomplishing environmental goals. The conference emphasized voluntary approaches that recognize that economic opportunity and environmental stewardship go hand-in-hand.

FY 2005 Achievements

I want to turn now specifically to the past year. In FY 2005, thanks to all of your efforts, NRCS:

• Served nearly 100,000 farmers and ranchers
• Invested $3.3 billion in voluntary, incentive-based conservation
• Established a comprehensive policy and transparent allocation formula for CTA
• Expanded the new Conservation Security Program nationwide
• Launched the Web Soil Survey to make soils data available 24/7 over the Internet
• Supported the President’s Wetlands Initiative to restore, create or enhance 3 million acres of wetlands by 2009
• Re-established Conservation Boot Camps

Limited Resource Farmers Initiative

I want to talk with you at greater length about another important effort in 2005—our Limited Resource Farmers Initiative. Thanks to the leadership of Walt Douglas and Homer Wilkes, last spring we announced we were setting aside up to $6 million in 2005 EQIP funds in 11 southern states and the Caribbean Area to help limited resource and beginning farmers implement good conservation practices on their lands.

It was a rousing success. Having these farmers compete only against other limited resource farmers makes a lot of sense. When we tallied the totals, we actually worked with more than 1,100 farmers to invest $6.8 million in cost-effective and economical conservation practices.

Most of the farmers who participated had small acreages and received up to 90 percent cost-shares to apply technically sound conservation practices modified to suit smaller operations.
I believe more beginning and limited resource farmers could benefit from this program.

So last week, we announced a nationwide expansion of the program for 2006. We expect to devote well over $10 million in EQIP funds across the country. In fact, I view that target as a goal that our state conservationists will blow right past.

I welcome your comments and suggestions as we continue to expand these and other programs.
This initiative proved effective last year in encouraging underserved producers with small operations to address natural resource concerns. With the expansion, we can help more producers get conservation on the ground.
Increasing Participation of Minority Farmers

Obviously, there’s more that we can do, more that we need to do, in reaching minority farmers with the message of conservation and the opportunity to participate in NRCS programs. Our Outreach efforts are a vital part of this effort. So are our Conservation Innovation and Cooperative Conservation Grants, which can showcase effective conservation practices and promote adoption and/or participation in NRCS programs.

I just want to mention that in addition to our efforts to reach farmers, we’re also working to help communities. Over the past year, we’ve donated 4,000 NRCS computers to underserved communities through schools and other local nonprofit organizations. We have done a lot, but there is room for more.

This year we’ve been celebrating our 70 years as a partner in conservation. Finding additional strategies to promote conservation among minority farmers would be one of the best ways for the Organization to help NRCS help farmers help the land. I welcome your suggestions and your input.

Building a Diverse Workforce

In addition to reaching minority farmers, I am committed to building and sustaining a diverse workforce in NRCS. I want to be sure the opportunities are there for minority employees to develop, grow and build successful careers. Not only is this commitment part of our Civil Rights Policy Statement, it is also my personal goal.

I want to thank all of our Black Special Emphasis Program Managers around the country for everything they do to promote a diverse workforce. For the past five years, the NRCS staff has included about 8 percent African Americans—either just above or just below that percentage.
We want to make sure that our future employees continue to represent all groups.

To help build a diverse workforce, NRCS works with USDA’s 1890’s scholarship program for promising students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. As a result, 27 graduates of this program are currently employed by the agency.

I also want to commend the Organization for its efforts to develop and encourage minority students through your scholarship program and your mentoring program. I think mentoring may be one of your most important functions. I will be meeting with the council of 1890’s college presidents next month to gather their input.

Another important component of our effort to ensure diversity on our staff is our revitalized Conservation Boot Camp program. Boot camps offer us the opportunity to hire outstanding people from diverse backgrounds and give them hands-on training in conservation planning and operations management.

Boot Camp provides a critical foundation, a common understanding and a commitment to conservation that we want every technical NRCS field employee to have. Boot Camp also builds a common bond—a commitment to NRCS and our mission of helping people help the land. Charles Adams, I appreciate the work you have done in moving this effort forward.

Beyond the entry level, we must consider mid-career training and/or mentoring opportunities to ensure that all of our staff can reach their potential. NRCS has a history of making significant strides among African American men, but we need to do more to provide opportunities for African American women.

Emphasis on Human Capital

This critical need provides the springboard to discuss our human capital initiative. As I’m sure you’ve heard, over the next five years, more than half of federal employees could retire. We’re going to have many new faces throughout the ranks in NRCS.

Retaining employees and replacing those who choose to retire will be a major leadership challenge for the agency. My vision is simple: I want NRCS to be the employer of choice for everyone interested in serving in conservation.

So we need to create a work environment and the opportunities for NRCS employees to make that goal a reality. I’ve tasked Kevin Brown, Associate Deputy Chief for Management, under the leadership of Dwight Holman, with the responsibility of working on an NRCS Human Capital Strategic Plan.

Human Capital Strategic Plan

This plan will help identify all the current and possible future gaps in skills and expertise and then find a way to fill them. Kevin will be working with a core team who voluntarily competed for this assignment.

The core team is a diverse group—ethnically, geographically, professionally. They’ll be working with a contractor and meeting monthly in Washington—with the first meeting beginning today.

The key to developing a realistic and effective plan is information—what employees think the needs are, what their plans are, what their expectations are. So here’s your part: take 15 minutes and fill out the human capital questionnaire.

You should have received an email about the human capital survey last week. If you haven’t filled it out on-line, please do so. And get your colleagues to do so also. You have until December 20 to complete it.

It’s completely confidential and will give us a broad-brush view of how NRCS employees see their jobs and their career and retirement plans. Your input is valuable and we need it.

We expect a preliminary report on this survey in January at the National Leadership Team meeting in Washington. State conservationists will be bringing state administrative officers, and we’ll be taking a look at human capital issues raised in the survey during breakout sessions.

The goal is to produce a Human Capital Strategic Plan by early summer. It is time to weave our human capital efforts into a plan. And the first step is having good information and input from everyone. Please do your part.

Priorities for 06

I want to talk for a few minutes about 2006. We have one overarching theme for our work this year— consolidating our gains.

We’ve already said we’d have no new software programs, no new nationwide programs. But we want to go beyond that and make sure we achieve excellence in every area, that everything is working well and humming along.

We’ve experienced three and a half years of tremendous change and unprecedented growth—new money, new programs, new organization, new people, new business tools. Now it’s time to pull all those changes together, to slow down on the new and consolidate the gains. This is the year for fine-tuning—to fully realize all the progress we’ve made.

As I said earlier, we’ll be emphasizing completing work under the 2002 farm bill and developing our Human Capital Strategic Plan. We will also continue our emphasis on cooperative conservation and the watershed approach to conservation. Finally, we’ll be exploring one new area—market-based incentives—to find creative new avenues of support for conservation.

2007 Farm Bill

Before I close, I want to talk for a few minutes about the next farm bill. This summer and fall, Secretary Johanns and other top USDA staff have been reaching out to our customers across the country to learn what they want to see in the 2007 farm bill. USDA has conducted 53 listening sessions in 48 states.

As Secretary Johanns put it, we’ve heard “very strong opinions expressed by some very passionate people.” We’ve learned there are widely varied views on many programs, but there is consensus on the value and importance of conservation programs.

In sharing his impressions of the forums, Secretary Johanns said, “We have also heard tremendous support for another of the President’s priorities—conservation. Our cooperative conservation programs provide farmers and ranchers with financial support, while benefiting the whole of society by protecting our natural resources today and for future generations.”

We don’t know exactly what lies ahead for farm programs. Clearly conservation will play an important role in whatever policies are ultimately incorporated in the 2007 farm bill.

At the same time, we know we can always find ways to improve conservation—better integrating our programs, making them more transparent, ensuring that programs work for all producers, including limited resource and underserved farmers. We also know we need to emphasize results—preferably outcome-based measures, not miles of streams buffered or acres of land treated.

Conclusion

I believe the Organization can play an important role in the future of NRCS. You bring conservation expertise and experience along with a critical point of view.

You can help us stay on target, working with farmers to bring environmental benefits to all of us.
You can help reach out to the many farmers who haven’t worked with us before.

You can help ensure we meet the needs of all our customers. It all boils down to our vision and our mission—helping people help the land.

When I visited Tuskegee last winter, I learned more about George Washington Carver. He once said, “It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”

Helping farmers make wise land use decisions—and reaping the environmental benefits for our Nation—is the mark of our success—as individuals within the agency and as a whole. I value and appreciate all that each of you have done to serve America’s farmers and this agency.

Thank you.