The application deadline for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is March 26 for the fiscal year 2021.
Through CSP, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helps agricultural producers and forest landowners earn payments for expanding conservation activities while maintaining agricultural production on their land. CSP also encourages the adoption of new technologies and management techniques.
Changes in the 2018 farm bill authorize NRCS to accept new CSP enrollments from now until 2023, and it makes some improvements to the program. Here are some of the improvements:
- NRCS now enrolls eligible applications based on dollars rather than acres. For fiscal 2021, NRCS in Florida can spend up to $3 million in the program, which covers part of the cost for producers implementing new conservation activities and maintaining their existing activities in all eligible land. Eligible land includes private and tribal agricultural lands, cropland, rangeland, pastureland, non-industrial private forestland, farmstead, and associated ag land.
- Higher payment rates are now available for certain conservation activities, including cover crops and resource-conserving crop rotations. (Learn about …..
Learn more about Conservation Program Improvements on the Citrus Industry website.