What's Up at the USDA Office?
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
December 25: Office closed in observance of Christmas Day
January 1: Office closed in observance of New Years Day
January 2: Deadline to report number of honeybee colonies for NAP and ELAP programs
January 9: FSA County Committee Meeting
January 20: Office closed in observance of Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr
January 31: Deadline to request 2024 MALs and LDPs for all eligible wool, mohair and unshorn pelts
NRCS Tops $100 Million in Conservation Funding to Iowa Farmers
Since we are closing in on the end of the calendar year, I wanted to summarize our accomplishments throughout the year here at the NRCS Office. This year, we obligated a record $112.1 million in conservation practice funding to Iowa farmers, through 1,960 conservation program contracts that will help treat natural resource concerns such as soil erosion and water quality on nearly 400,000 acres. Our typical conservation program contracts run three to five years, depending on the program. The obligated funds were about $26 million more than the prior record of $85.8 million in 2023, and nearly $40 million more than the prior five-year average.
IRA vs Farm Bill Funding
Iowa NRCS staff obligated about 42 percent ($47.2 million) of the FY24 conservation funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA, signed into law in 2022, addresses clean energy and climate change. IRA conservation funding targets climate-smart agriculture mitigation and helps farmers build resilience in their operations.
NRCS staff obligated the other 58 percent of its Iowa financial assistance program funding through the 2018 Farm Bill, which was extended another year.
Program Breakdown
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP):
CSP helps farmers build a customized plan to meet their conservation goals and needs. Here in Iowa, we obligated $29.2 million through new and renewed CSP contracts during the past year to 594 Iowa landowners who signed five-year CSP contracts. The CSP contracts will cover 204,743 acres.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP):
Through EQIP, NRCS obligated $65.5 million covering 164,073 acres through 1,212 contracts. Cover crops, brush management, and practices to support livestock grazing such as prescribed grazing, watering facility, pipeline, heavy use protection area and fence were the most adopted practices in Iowa in 2024.
Statewide EQIP highlights:
• Through the IRA Soil Health Initiative, Iowa NRCS obligated $14.8 million for cover crops on 44,918 acres through 140 contracts.
• Iowa NRCS obligated 29 percent of EQIP funds ($19.1 million) to historically underserved producers – which includes beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged, veterans, and limited resource producers.
Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP):
Iowa NRCS provided nearly $9 million to Iowa farmers in 2024 through RCPP projects that will help treat natural resource concerns on about 20,000 acres. NRCS assisted producers through nine RCPP partnership agreements and 144 contracts.
NRCS staff also wrote 23,020 conservation plans during fiscal year 2024, which covers more than two million acres. Conservation plans help producers target and address natural resource concerns such as soil erosion, water quality, and wildlife habitat, in addition to addressing climate change and improving soil health.
