Conservation Today and Tomorrow

Remarks by Dana York, Associate Chief
Natural Resources Conservation Service, at
Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference
Keystone, CO
July 25, 2006

Thank you, Craig (Cox). I appreciate the opportunity to join you in Colorado. It’s wonderful to see so many old friends here this morning.

I bring greetings from NRCS Chief Bruce Knight as well as his regrets that he couldn’t be here. He deeply appreciates and values our partnership with SWCS and is sorry he can’t be with you.

As you know, President Bush has nominated him to serve as USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. So I’m filling in, since his confirmation hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

This morning I want to talk with you about conservation today—in 2006—and where we are headed with conservation in the future—2007 and beyond.

For more than 70 years, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and its predecessor, the Soil Conservation Service, have been helping people help the land. Our focus is cooperative conservation on working agricultural lands.

Working lands conservation programs are unique among agricultural programs in that they are specifically designed to produce multiple benefits. First, farmers or ranchers who install conservation practices improve their land and enhance their natural resources. Second, the public also receives many benefits: a cleaner environment, increased biological diversity and a scenic landscape, to name just a few. Conservation investments also lead to stronger rural economies.

Accomplishments under the 2002 Farm Bill

Before we look ahead, I want to give you a brief assessment of where we stand today. Working with our partners and the farmers and ranchers we serve, we’ve accomplished a great deal over the past four years under the 2002 farm bill. Just to mention a few highlights, we have:

• Assisted one million farmers and ranchers.

• Applied conservation on more than 130 million acres of working farm and ranchland—that’s under EQIP alone!

• Helped farmers apply more than 14,000 Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans.

• Invested $6.6 billion directly with farmers and ranchers.

• Worked with more than 2,500 Technical Service Providers to extend our staff and our expertise.

Management Improvements

In addition, we’ve made a number of management improvements at NRCS to strengthen our day-to-day operations, improve service to our customers and save time and money. These include:

• Creating a transparent allocations process using resource base and resource concern factors to allocate funds to states.

• Establishing a process for rapid watershed assessment to provide initial estimates of where conservation investments can best address resource concerns.

• Streamlining the payment processes for EQIP.

• Reducing required paperwork for customers through a common computer database in USDA Service Centers.

• Establishing a single centralized web authentication service.

• Developing software to provide natural resource information, make map development easier and track conservation contracts.

• Beginning work on an automated application ranking tool.

• Instituting programmatic reforms such as a pilot sign-up process for technical assistance and common easement and cost-share provisions where possible.

Consolidating the Gains

I’m sure it comes as no surprise that NRCS has been very busy over the past four years. That’s one reason we’ve declared 2006 as the year of “consolidating the gains.” Very simply, that means completing the work we’ve begun. So we have designated 2006 as a season of follow-up and follow-through.

We’ve experienced a time of change with new programs, new tools, new structures and new leaders in many offices. Now it’s time to consolidate the gains.

By that I don’t mean taking a time out or a rest period. I mean wrapping up old business, completing the contracts we’ve signed and getting conservation on the ground. This year we’re focused on finishing what we’ve started.

Consolidating the gains also means spending time fine-tuning our business tools so we can accurately and fully account for all the progress we’ve made. We want to make sure everything works smoothly—for our employees, our partners and, most importantly, our customers.

Our work this year will pave the way for what lies ahead—the farm bill of 2007. We want to complete the work under the 2002 farm bill to get ready for even greater challenges to come.

2007 Farm Bill

Last summer and fall Secretary Johanns and other top USDA officials held a series of 53 listening sessions all around the country to hear directly from farmers and ranchers about what they’d like to see in the next farm bill. USDA staff analyzed the information shared in these forums as well additional public comments submitted.

Drawing upon these recommendations, Secretary Johanns is issuing a series of theme papers that discuss how USDA programs operate and options for changes.
The conservation theme paper came out June 8.

I’m sure you’ll want to read it for yourself, and perhaps you have already. It’s available on the USDA website at www.usda.gov and there’s a link to it from the NRCS site as well. So I’ll just mention the highlights here.

Currently, USDA programs address conservation and environmental concerns through:

1. education and technical assistance,

2. financial incentive payments that

• help pay for conservation projects on working lands, OR

• help fund conversion of lands to conservation uses to achieve specific environmental benefits, OR

• help protect agricultural lands from conversion to other uses.

3. conservation compliance—fulfilling certain requirements to be eligible for other USDA programs, and

4. regulatory requirements—such as the clean air, clean water and endangered species laws.

The conservation theme paper includes a careful analysis of where conservation funds go. For example,

• Conservation Reserve Program funds go mostly to the Plains and Corn Belt while Environmental Quality Incentive Program payments are more concentrated in Western states where livestock producers are.

• 15 percent of all farms received conservation payments in 2004, averaging $5,330 per farm.

The paper also examines conservation payments by the type of farm—rural residence, intermediate or commercial—and by the income level of the farm. It includes information on program costs and distribution as well as economic and market effects. There’s a discussion of world trade implications and what types of conservation payments qualify for “green box” treatment—in other words, don’t count against the U.S. because they aren’t considered to distort trade.

The conservation theme paper also lists some of the specific benefits achieved through our current conservation programs:

• 43 percent decline in soil erosion from 1982 to 2003

• Net gain of 260,000 acres of wetlands from 1997 to 2003

• Increases in wildlife habitat and populations

• Improvements in water quality through reduced sediment and comprehensive nutrient management plans, and

• Gains in air quality along with reductions in carbon emissions

Perhaps the most interesting section of the theme paper is the final one, which outlines four alternatives for changes in the conservation programs in the next farm bill. These, of course, are just possible options, not USDA or Administration policy or proposals.

The first option is to improve existing conservation programs by

• Making greater use of watershed or landscape approaches and “pay for performance” strategies, increasing the use of market mechanisms such as reverse auctions and bidding.

• Consolidating programs and delivery where there are common purposes and incentives.

• Balancing investments between working lands and conservation use, and

• Enhancing contributions to energy management and alternative energy sources.

The second option involves providing green payments for environmental benefits and income support. With this option, the goal is to create a market for environmental gains. If payments exceed costs, then farmers receive the extra dollars as income.

The third option described in the theme paper is to encourage private sector markets for environmental services. With this option, USDA would:

• Work with regulatory agencies to ensure that environmental goods produced by agriculture can be used to offset regulatory requirements on other sectors.

• Authorize development of consistent standards for estimating environmental goods provided by agriculture and forestry.

• Foster emerging markets through loans and grants.

The final option involves expanding conservation compliance or establishing a standard of care. Essentially this option calls for strengthening the link between price and income support and environmental benefits. It would require producers who receive support to control soil erosion, manage nutrients or meet soil and water quality requirements at a level similar to the requirements for Tier I of the Conservation Security Program.

Strategic Plan

We’ve talked about current conservation programs and consolidating the gains and possibilities for the next farm bill. But NRCS is also looking at the long-term—where conservation on working agricultural lands needs to go 5, 10, 15 and even 20 years from now. That’s the focus of the new NRCS Strategic Plan.

We launched the plan this spring after involving NRCS employees at all levels as well as customers and partners in developing it. As an agency, NRCS has a simple and clear mission: helping people help the land. And our ultimate objective is productive lands and a healthy environment.

To help us move from vision to reality, we have identified six goals—three foundation goals and three venture goals. Our foundation goals cover traditional NRCS concerns:

• high quality, productive soils;
• clean and abundant water; and
• healthy plant and animal communities.

The venture goals focus on emerging resource concerns related to current economic and demographic trends. These include:

• air quality,
• an adequate energy supply and
• working farms and ranch lands.

The plan also identifies three strategies we will use to address these concerns:

• cooperative conservation,
• a watershed approach and
• a market-based approach.

We believe we have a solid blueprint to drive us forward. But the plan also provides sufficient flexibility to enable us to adjust to the inevitable changes that will occur—including whatever the next farm bill brings—and to recognize local priorities.

Human Capital Strategic Plan

Aligned with our strategic plan is our new Human Capital Strategic Plan. We call it “Conservation First, People Always.”

The plan recognizes that our success depends upon a workforce with the technical expertise, dedication and ability to work collaboratively with a diverse customer base. It provides strategic thinking and guidance for managing our workforce following careful analysis of the changes we can expect with the coming retirement wave.

It outlines our response in terms of priorities for the next 12 months as well as goals and objectives for the next five to ten years. Our human capital goals focus on five key areas:

• Recruitment and retention
• Leadership
• Performance culture
• Talent development and knowledge management, and
• Human capital effectiveness

Perhaps more importantly to many of you, we will be looking beyond current NRCS employees and new hires to get the job done. The plan envisions drawing upon partners, volunteers, technical service providers and retirees as well as NRCS employees. If you’re interested in volunteering or working in conservation, we’re going to have opportunities for you.

Expanding Opportunities

I mentioned earlier the Technical Service Provider program, which has helped us respond to the unprecedented demand for technical assistance that the 2002 farm bill brought. Last year, we obligated nearly $52 million in technical assistance, through TSPs—more than 60 percent to private individuals. We estimate that by the end of this fiscal year, we will have invested $163.5 million since 2003in technical assistance through TSPs.

As I said earlier, we have about 2,500 TSPs. But we could use more—especially to help write comprehensive nutrient management plans. The recently proposed EPA rule on concentrated animal feeding operations sets a deadline of July 31, 2007, for CAFOs to apply for permits and have nutrient management plans in place. We’ll need help meeting the expected demand for CNMPs.

I’m also excited about another opportunity—the ACES program. ACES stands for Agricultural Conservation Enrollees/Seniors. Last October NRCS signed an agreement with the National Older Worker Career Center to manage ACES for us.

Right now this is a pilot in seven states—Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia—and headquarters in Washington and the NRCS West National Technology Support Center in Portland, Oregon.

ACES is perfect for retirees—you work 20 to 40 hours per week for a stipend.
You don’t replace NRCS employees, nor are you considered a federal employee.
The National Older Worker Career Center posts vacancies that we’re seeking to fill. NOWCC reviews applications and refers qualified candidates to NRCS for interviews.

Right now we have 146 ACES positions identified with 103 of them filled. But we’d love to expand this program.

Some of you may not be aware that NRCS has reinstituted Conservation Boot Camp. Last summer, we held three pilot six-week camps. This year, we’re holding eight camps.

This training for new NRCS employees has been very well received—both by the new hires and their State Conservationists. But there’s a problem. We need more seasoned, expert instructors.

That’s where some of you and ACES could come in. We would love to have experienced, committed conservationists to fill our teaching slots, freeing our field people to remain in their jobs. I see this as a real opportunity for retirees who’d like to keep their hand in, but don’t want to be employed full-time.

Technology Advances

I’ve talked about our vision and our plans for staff to accomplish it. Another top priority for NRCS is developing and sharing new technology to better inform the decisions our customers make.

I hope all of you have tried our Web Soil Survey, launched last summer. Now every landowner can access soil data 24/7 from the farm office or the kitchen table via a home computer.

Not only is this much more convenient for farmers and ranchers, it’s much more efficient for NRCS. Through the Web Soil Survey, we have distributed more soil survey information to more customers in the past year than we accomplished with our printed copies over the past 5 years.

Another real boon to our customers is our trio of three-click energy estimators—which have received more than 1.5 million hits from over 45,000 visitors. With the help of these computer programs, farmers are figuring out, based on their own inputs, whether they can save fuel and money by switching to no-till, adjusting their fertilizer applications or increasing irrigation efficiency. These estimators are helping our customers manage their costs and boost their incomes and save energy, water and soil.

We’re continuing to develop enhancements for our PLANTS database—incorporating information on pollinator and plant relationships and wildlife habitat values. PLANTS is the major plant resource database for the United States—easily accessible from the NRCS website.

Another example of new technology is the Carbon Management Evaluation Tool for Voluntary Reporting—known as COMET-VR. NRCS developed this tool to help landowners estimate the carbon sequestration potential of their land.

A farmer or rancher using COMET-VR could calculate estimates of annual soil carbon fluxes along with fuel and fertilizer use. Producers can input current and alternative farming and grazing practices into COMET-VR, which then estimates changes in fuel use, fertilizer and carbon storage from each alternative.

In 2005, the Agricultural Research Service transferred its Wind Erosion Prediction System model to NRCS. NRCS is now testing the WEPS model and preparing databases needed at the field office level.

With WEPS, NRCS and Extension Service, as well as individual farmers, will be able to formulate specific wind erosion control practices. We expect to make WEPS available for field use in 2007.

Demonstrating Results

I mentioned earlier that we have experienced a 43-percent reduction in soil erosion from 1982 to 2003. That finding comes from our National Resources Inventory.

It’s exciting and gratifying to see that the work we are doing in partnership with landowners is paying off. This is a broad statistical survey of natural resource conditions and trends.

But we are eager to learn what specific conservation practices contribute most to reducing erosion, sequestering carbon or improving water quality. That’s why I’m even more excited about the partnership that we have with SWCS on the Conservation Effects Assessment Project. As you know, CEAP is USDA’s effort to quantify the environmental benefits of conservation practices under our conservation programs.

SWCS is partnering with us as technical experts to help us develop databases and models and plan the research for this assessment. In addition to specific practices, CEAP will examine benefits on a watershed level.

We called on SWCS because of the Society’s appreciation for science and commitment to taking a science-based approach to conservation. SWCS also encompasses a wide variety of agricultural and environmental interests. And we appreciate the work you have done—and are doing—to ensure that CEAP works to capture the information that will benefit us all.

Conclusion

I am convinced this is a great time to be a conservationist. We have a vision for the future, new opportunities ahead in the next farm bill and cutting edge technology and tools to move us forward. We know that what we are doing today will make a difference tomorrow.

I like what high-flying investor—and recent philanthropist—Warren Buffet said, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long ago.”

I’m proud to be among those who are helping people help the land today to preserve and enhance our natural resources for the citizens of tomorrow.