Agripulse reports that federal conservation funding through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will no longer limit how much farmers can receive. The continuing resolution (CR), passed by Congress before the Thanksgiving holiday, funds through Jan. 30 those parts of the government not covered by three agency specific appropriations bills approved as part of the CR legislation. The CR funds USDA programs and extends the farm bill another year, does not limit payments for both programs allowing projects to receive more funds than they have in the past.
Previously, producers enrolled in EQIP could not receive more than $450,000 over a five-year farm bill period (from 2019 through 2023), while those enrolled in CSP could not receive more than $200,000.
EQIP was first established in the 1996 farm bill, merging other conservation programs. The program provides cost-share and incentive payments to producers who sign contracts as long as 10 years promising to implement new environmental practices, like cover crops, no-till and prescribed grazing. The money can also fund new fencing and irrigation equipment.
CSP, which was created in the 2002 farm bill and then overhauled and renamed in 2008, is geared more toward producers who have already implemented some conservation practices in previous years and are looking to expand and use more. The program typically requires a longer-term commitment than EQIP, with producers signing five-year contracts for not only maintaining conservation practices that have already been established but for also adopting new ones.
Agripulse quotes Jonathan Coppess, an associate professor of law and policy at the University of Illinois, who points out that payment limitations have long been part of conservation programs, dating back to the 1936 Agricultural Conservation Program, one of the earliest federal conservation cost-share programs for farmers. "You have a specific cap on the budget authority, which means there's only so much money available," Coppess said. "So the more that any large farmer is able to get, the more it squeezes out other farmers."
Advocates for small farmers fear the changes will lead to a greater share of funding going to larger farms with bigger projects when paired with other recent developments impacting the two conservation programs. Those include changes Congress made to adjusted gross income limitations earlier this year through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and reduced NRCS staffing levels.
Farmers with adjusted gross incomes of more than $900,000 were previously barred from participating in EQIP and CSP. However, language in the OBBBA, which was enacted in July, exempted producers who derive 75% or more of their average gross income from this requirement.
Five former Natural Resources Conservation Service chiefs called for lawmakers to loosen the AGI limitations, arguing they are "counterproductive" to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve water quality, soil health and wildlife habitat.