Farmers depend on productive, sustainable land, clean water and air and health animals to make a living. To help create those conditions and protect ecosystems, they get help from conservation programs that make up about 6 percent of the $500 billion federal farm bill.

While the 2018 farm bill drafts haven’t yet been made public, these are three of the larger programs that might see some changes:

  1. Conservation Reserve Program: The largest program in the farm bill pays farmers to take environmentally sensitive land out of production —typically, that’s land that is highly erodible —.for 10 or 15 years, allowing it to return to its native status.
  2. Environmental Quality Incentives Program: If farmers want to add cover crops for better soil health or install irrigation systems that help prevent groundwater contamination, they can apply for funding to cover those costs through EQIP.
  3. Conservation Stewardship Program: CSP funds projects that add to the sustainability of farmland. It also rewards farmers who are already using methods like adding riparian buffers to reduce runoff or installing better drainage systems to protect water quality.

Read the source article on conservation programs in the Farm Bill by Kristofor Husted at Harvest Public Media