NRCS Conservation Programs

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary conservation program that encourages producers to address resource concerns in a comprehensive (whole-farm) manner by maintaining and improving their existing conservation systems and adopting additional conservation activities to address priority resource concerns. Participants earn CSP payments for conservation performance—the higher the performance, the higher the payment. CSP is available on Tribal and private agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest land in all 50 States and the Caribbean and Pacific Islands Areas. The program provides equitable access to all producers, regardless of operation size, crops produced, or geographic location.

To learn more see CSP

Financial Information: Total Obligations | Technical Assistance | Financial Assistance
Conservation Practice Implementation Reports: | by Conservation Practices related to:
Cropland Soil Quality | Cropland Soil Health & Sustainability | Cropland Soil Health Management System (SHMS) | Fish & Wildlife Habitat | Forest Land Conservation | Grazing Land Conservation | Irrigation Efficiency | Water Quality
CSP Enhancement Summary -- To learn more about CSP bundles and enhancements, please see CSP Enhancements and Bundles

Financial Information

The Financial Information section presents data from the USDA Office of the Chief Financial Officer's Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI) system and its predecessor, the Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS). The Financial Information presented here is Total Obligations which the Government Accountability Office defines as binding agreements (orders placed, contracts awarded, services rendered, etc.) that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. Before obligations can be incurred, budgetary resources must be made available by Congress. The obligations displayed for each year are the total obligations reported as of the end of each fiscal year. Subsequent adjustments after the close of the fiscal year are not included.

There are two categories of Total Obligations presented below:

• Technical Assistance (TA) Obligations refer to the scientific expertise, natural resource data, tools, and technology that USDA NRCS personnel provide to help producers, landowners, and communities develop conservation plans and implement conservation practices to solve natural resource problems at the field, operation, or larger landscape scales. NRCS is the lead agency for providing technical assistance for USDA.
  
• Financial Assistance (FA) Obligations refer to the commitment of funds to contracts for payments that will be made to program participants for conservation activities, which can provide both on-site and off-site conservation benefits.
  

Conservation Practice Implementation

Through the Conservation Stewardship Program, conservation practices, CSP bundles, and CSP practice enhancements (also referred to as conservation “activities”) are planned and applied at the land unit level. The land unit is the smallest unit of land that has a permanent or contiguous boundary, a common land cover and land management, and a common owner or a common producer. The following tables include data for fiscal years FY 2017-FY 2021.

For brevity, conservation practices, bundles, and enhancements are referred to collectively as “practices”. To learn more about CSP bundles and enhancements, please see CSP Enhancements and Bundles

This RCA release uses an updated field definition. Heretofore the National Planning and Agreements Database (NPAD) Land Unit Id was used to represent fields wherever estimates of unique acres treated were required. This identifier is found in the planning land unit database layer. However, since conservation plans are often updated as producers’ conservation decisions evolve over time, there can be multiple land unit identifiers associated with the same field in NPAD. This can result in overestimating the number of fields and the associated unique acres. The Resource Analytics Lab has used GIS to develop a shape based algorithm to eliminate the overcounting of fields by selecting the single best shape out of the multiple shape based identifiers associated with the same field.

As practices are measured in different units (acres, feet, square feet, etc.), the challenge for reporting performance at various levels is how to aggregate across practices. Although practices may affect resources beyond the land unit boundary or be applied only on part of the land unit, the land unit does provide a common metric to aggregate over practices since each applied practice is associated with a specific land unit. Analysis of the data reveals that most practices, bundles, and enhancements are measured in acres and most are applied in amounts that match the land unit acres of the field. Therefore, land unit acreage is the metric on which the acres of land receiving conservation treatment are calculated.

The data presented in this section reflect the fiscal year in which conservation practices were applied, which can occur at any point during the duration of the CSP contract. Totals presented here are not comparable to program enrollment acres or contract acres.

Land Unit Acres Receiving Conservation by Practice

The following set of chart/table combinations present conservation practice data grouped by purpose: Cropland Soil Quality, Cropland Soil Health, Fish & Wildlife Habitat, Forest Land Conservation, Grazing Land Conservation, Irrigation Efficiency, Water Quality, and Wetlands. Any practices not included in one of these groups are included in an All Other category. Data for practices in the All Other category can be downloaded in the Conservation Programs Profile csv file.

Note that there is some overlap between these groupings, since some practices address multiple resource concerns. Here land unit acres are counted each time a practice is applied on that land unit in the fiscal year. Therefore land unit acres may be counted multiple times across practices, practice groupings, and fiscal years. To learn more about specific conservation practices, see the National Handbook of Conservation Practices.

Conservation Practices Related to Cropland Soil Quality

The following chart and table includes practices that are related to Cropland Soil Quality Management. The six components of soil quality management are: enhancing organic matter, avoiding excessive tillage, managing pests and nutrients efficiently, preventing soil compaction, keeping the ground covered, and diversifying cropping systems. Choosing specific practices within each component depends on the situation since different types of soil respond differently to the same practice. Each combination of soil type and land use calls for a different set of practices to enhance soil quality. Note that only practices applied on cropland or hay land are included.

Only practices representing a significant portion of the total for the period are included in the above chart. Practices not included are summed into the All Other category.

The following table includes program information under which the above practices related to Cropland Soil Quality Management were applied. These data reflect the geographic extent of cropland treated with soil quality practices by each conservation program during a fiscal year. Land unit acres may be counted multiple times across fiscal years, but are only counted once per fiscal year.

Conservation Practices Related to Cropland Soil Health & Sustainability

The following chart and table includes practices that are related to Cropland Soil Health & Sustainability. This measure is intended as a step-wise measure to show progress towards implementing a Soil Health Management System (SHMS). A SHMS is defined as a collection of NRCS conservation practices that focuses on maintaining or enhancing soil health by addressing four soil health management principles: minimize disturbance, maximize soil cover, maximize biodiversity and maximize presence of living roots. Note that only practices applied on cropland are included. Also at least two eligible conservation practices or an eligible Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) bundle must be applied during the fiscal year. Eligible conservation practices are those that indicate progress toward a SHMS and include: Conservation Crop Rotation, Residue and Tillage Management (No Till and Reduced Till), Cover Crop, and corresponding CSP activities and bundles. Some CSP bundles count as two eligible practices.

The following CSP reports summarize where CSP was responsible for funding all practices required to meet the performance measure. The performance measure, however, can be satisfied by the application of eligible practices under more than one program (e.g., CSP and EQIP). To see the overall contribution of CSP-funded practices to fulfilling the requirements of the measure, please see the Land Unit Acres Receiving Conservation (including practice count) by Program and Fiscal Year, Cropland Soil Health & Sustainability Practices table in the National Conservation Profile found in the National Reports page of the RCA Data Viewer. See National Conservation Profile report.

Only practices representing a significant portion of the total for the period are included in the above chart. Practices not included are summed into the All Other category.

The following table includes program information under which the above practices related to Cropland Soil Health & Sustainability were applied. These data reflect the geographic extent of cropland treated with soil health practices by each conservation program during a fiscal year. Land unit acres may be counted multiple times across fiscal years, but are only counted once per fiscal year.

Conservation Practices Related to Cropland Soil Health Management System (SHMS)

The following chart and table includes practices that are related to Cropland SHMS or cropland on which a system of practices to sustain or improve soil health was applied during the fiscal year. A SHMS is defined as a collection of NRCS conservation practices that focuses on maintaining or enhancing soil health by addressing four soil health management principles: minimize disturbance, maximize soil cover, maximize biodiversity and maximize presence of living roots. Note that only practices applied on cropland are included. Three eligible core conservation practices must be in place. They are: Conservation Crop Rotation, Residue and Tillage Management (No Till or Reduced Till), Cover Crop, and corresponding CSP activities and bundles. Some CSP bundles fulfil the requirements of a Cropland SHMS.

The following CSP reports summarize where CSP was responsible for funding all practices required to meet the performance measure. The performance measure, however, can be satisfied by the application of eligible practices under more than one program (e.g., CSP and EQIP). To see the overall contribution of CSP-funded practices to fulfilling the requirements of the measure, please see the Land Unit Acres Receiving Conservation (including practice count) by Program and Fiscal Year, Cropland Soil Health Management System (SHMS) Practices table in the National Conservation Profile found in the National Reports page of the RCA Data Viewer. See National Conservation Profile report.

Only practices representing a significant portion of the total for the period are included in the above chart. Practices not included are summed into the All Other category.

The following table includes program information under which the above practices related to Cropland SHMS were applied. These data reflect the geographic extent of cropland treated with SHMS practices by each conservation program during a fiscal year. Land unit acres may be counted multiple times across fiscal years, but are only counted once per fiscal year.

Conservation Practices Related to Fish & Wildlife Habitat

The following chart and table includes practices that are related to Fish & Wildlife Habitat Management. The environment that NRCS helps its clients conserve, maintain, and improve is also habitat for fish & wildlife and other biological resources. While every practice and management action taken on the land has some effect on biological resources, the following practices are specifically related to fish & wildlife habitat.

Only practices representing a significant portion of the total for the period are included in the above chart. Practices not included are summed into the All Other category.