The Honorable Debbie Stabenow The Honorable John Boozman
Chairwoman Ranking Member
Committee on Agriculture, Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry Nutrition, and Forestry
U.S. Senate U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510 Washington DC 20510
The Honorable G. T. Thompson The Honorable
David Scott
Chairman
Ranking Member
Agriculture Committee Agriculture Committee
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairwoman Stabenow, Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Boozman, and Ranking Member Scott:
As Congress works on the reauthorization of the 2023 Farm Bill, the undersigned organizations write in strong support of stair stepping annual mandatory funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program to $4 billion per year in the 2023 Farm Bill.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is one of the most impactful national conservation programs. CSP is USDA’s largest working lands conservation program, and its comprehensive approach to conservation assistance makes it uniquely equipped to support the modern farmer. Producers are rewarded not only for addressing locally-determined priority resource concerns and implementing new and more advanced conservation activities, but also for actively managing and maintaining existing stewardship practices. This comprehensive approach allows CSP to increase the long-term sustainability of agricultural operations, while also enhancing soil health, protecting natural resources, and helping farms and ranches build resilience to the impacts of climate disruption while becoming part of the climate solution through carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas mitigation. This comprehensive approach generates far greater return on investment than other approaches to conservation, making CSP one of the most responsible places to invest public funds.
A voluntary conservation program, CSP has grown in popularity with farmers over the life of the 2018 Farm Bill. In 2020, over 27,000 farmers applied to CSP. This rose to over 32,000 farmers applying to CSP in 2022. As interest in the program has grown, funding has proven insufficient to meet demand. During recent years, only 18-25% of farmers seeking to implement conservation through CSP have been able to enter the program. In 2022 alone, more than 24,000 farmers from all 50 states were turned away from the program.
The mismatch between farmer demand for CSP and total funding is disappointing, but not unexpected. The 2014 Farm Bill sharply cut funding for CSP and other conservation programs, and the 2018 Farm Bill shifted money out of CSP and into other programs. Recent investments in working lands conservation programs are a step in the right direction, but additional, durable funding provided in the Farm Bill is still needed. The 2023 Farm Bill must reconcile the severe spending cuts of the past two Farm Bills with strong farmer demand for CSP in the present.
Tens of thousands of farmers across the country are stepping forward, ready to voluntarily implement conservation on their operations. In order to fully realize this potential - and the potential of U.S. agriculture to help build a better future for farmers and their communities - Congress should stair step annual mandatory funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program up to $4 billion per year in the 2023 Farm Bill.
