USDA Signs Technical Service Provider Agreement with the American Forage and Grassland Council

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., June 14, 2005—The U.S. Department of Agriculture today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the American Forage and Grassland Council (AFGC) allowing conservation participants the option to obtain technical assistance for their privately-owned grazing and tribal lands from certified technical service providers (TSPs) who also are certified grassland professionals.

“This agreement will help increase the availability of technical assistance to landowners and operators concerned about the management, productivity and health of their grazing lands,” said USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Bruce Knight. “Certified TSPs can help these farmers and ranchers manage grassland resources on private and tribal lands to gain many benefits such as healthy wildlife populations and habitat, improved fisheries and aquatic systems, and healthy riparian areas.”

Knight and AFGC President Ed Twidwell signed the three-year MOU during the 2005 AFGC Conference here today.

The 2002 Farm Bill expanded the availability of technical assistance to private landowners by encouraging the use of TSPs to assist USDA in delivering conservation technical assistance services to landowners.

The MOU allows AFGC to recommend its members, who must pass a test, to NRCS for certification to plan and implement conservation practices on pasture, hayland and grazed cropland. This MOU recognizes that a grassland professional completing AFGC’s Certified Grassland Professional certification also meets USDA’s performance criteria for providing conservation assistance in grazing and forage. The grassland professional’s work must meet USDA’s standards and specifications for quality conservation technical assistance.

AFGC is a national scientific and educational organization representing grassland professionals nationwide. The private, nonprofit organization is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas.

NRCS certifies TSPs and lists them on a national, web-based registry called TechReg. Farmers, ranchers and other landowners seeking conservation technical assistance can locate a TSP through this registry. More than 2,300 certified TSPs from across the nation can be found in this registry.

In addition to AFGC, USDA has signed MOUs with the following 12 organizations—American Society of Agronomy, Society for Range Management, Iowa State University, The Wildlife Society, Society of American Foresters, The Irrigation Association, University of Tennessee, National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants, Environmental Management Solutions, American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists, Association of Consulting Foresters of America and American Fisheries Society.

The MOUs allow these organizations to recommend qualified individuals to USDA for certification as TSPs in conservation planning and design, layout, installation and checkout of approved conservation practices.

Additional information on technical service provider assistance is available at http://techreg.usda.gov.
 

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