October 29, 2021– USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Jerry Raynor announced today that Indiana is now accepting applications for enrollment in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the nation’s largest conservation program. While applications are accepted year-round, interested producers should submit applications to their local NRCS office by January 28 to be considered for this funding period.
CSP is a financial assistance program for producers who are already established conservation stewards and who want to add more conservation benefits on their land, such as improved water and soil quality and enhanced wildlife habitat.
“CSP continues to be a very effective tool for private landowners working to achieve their conservation and management goals,” said Raynor. “It is the largest conservation program in the United States with more than 70 million acres of productive agricultural and forest land enrolled.”
Through CSP, agricultural producers and forest landowners earn payments for actively managing, maintaining, and expanding conservation activities like cover crops, ecologically-based pest management, buffer strips, and pollinator and beneficial insect habitat – all while maintaining active agriculture production on their land. CSP also encourages the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and management techniques, such as precision agriculture applications and on-site carbon storage and planting for high carbon sequestration rate, and soil amendments to improve water quality.
CSP is for private working lands including cropland, pastureland, nonindustrial private forest land and agricultural land under the jurisdiction of a tribe. Agricultural producers wanting to enhance current conservation efforts on their land are encouraged to apply.
Information about CSP, including national and state ranking questions and enhancement descriptions, is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/csp. This one-stop shop, which provides information to help individuals determine whether CSP is right for them, will be continually updated as more information becomes available.
For more information about Indiana NRCS and other technical and financial assistance available through conservation programs, visit www.in.nrcs.usda.gov or contact your District Conservationist Deborah Knepp at (574) 936-2024 Ext. 4.