The Sustainable Agriculture Conference: Sowing Seeds and Growing Towards the Future.

RALEIGH, N.C., – Recently, members from the United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) of North Carolina (N.C) attended the 39th annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference hosted by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA). The event was held from November 2nd thru 4th at the Durham Convention Center. 

“This network of farmers, educators, researchers, advocates, businesses, and changemakers actively shapes the future of food and farming in the Carolinas,” wrote Roland McReynolds, CFSA Executive Director in his opening letter. 

The Sustainable Agriculture Conference featured three days of various workshops and network opportunities for attendees. The workshops covered high tunnels, farm planning, navigating federal programs, and many others. It was an excellent opportunity for like-minded individuals to gather and share information. 

“For me, I get to learn about other practices and their variations. It is also a time for our producers to get a chance to learn about NRCS”, said Gabriela Velez-Rodriguez, Soil Conservationist for (USDA-NRCS) of North Carolina.

A couple of the workshops covered working with UDSA-NRCS, presented by Hillery Goodgame, Blue Heron Urban Farms & Sanctuary and Jaimie McGirt, RAFI-USA. The speakers covered the challenges that historically underserved farmers have faced while applying for financial assistance with the agency. The speakers helped attendees learn practical strategies and tips for navigating USDA-NRCS programs and understand the key components and requirements of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).

Working with USDA-NRCS involves five easy steps. To get started with USDA-NRCS, it is recommended that an applicant stop by their local NRCS field office. The agency provides landowners with free technical assistance or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. To get started on applying for financial assistance, there are several options for an applicant. Applications can be received by e-mail, mail, fax, in person, through farmers.gov, and by telephone.

Additionally working with USDA-NRCS, an applicant will need to work with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to establish records if they haven’t done so already. If the applicant already has records established with FSA, some forms may need to be updated annually:

• Form AD-1026: Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certification
• Form CCC-941: Average Adjusted Gross Income Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information
• Forms CCC-902I and/or 902E: Farm Operating Plan for an Individual or Entity
• Additional forms and/or documents may be required.

Along with the FSA documents, applicants will be required to provide an official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID) and a property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property. All this information is required to establish eligibility. 

Once eligibility has been established USDA-NRCS will rank your application against other similar eligible applications in the same ranking pool. In the ranking process the agency measures the environmental benefit the conservation plan will offer and gives the applicant a score. Selection is made based on the applications with the highest scores and how much funds have been allocated to a specific “fund pool.”

Applications with the same score will either all be selected for funding, or none will be funded. It all depends on how much funds are available in that specific “fund pool.” If not selected for funding, don’t be discouraged. The application stays in the system until more funding becomes available, if more funding doesn’t become available, the application may be reevaluated the following Fiscal Year with the applicant’s approval.

If an applicant is selected, they can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done; or they can decide not to proceed with a contract. There is no penalty for canceling an application if the contract is not yet signed. However, canceling a contract could lead to liquidated damages in an amount equal to 10 percent of the total financial assistance obligated to the participant in the contract. Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then they will have a specified amount of time to implement those practices. 

The conference concluded on Nov. 4 with several farm visits in the local area. These visits offered hands on learning opportunities for attendees as they discussed a variety of topics that included Agrotourism, Planning, and Farmer-to-Farmer mentorship. The conference has been a staple in the Carolinas, going on since 1985 and will continue to be a welcomed part of the sustainable agriculture conversation.

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