Arizona growers will share in conservation funding from climate bill

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December 19, 2022
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Grassland restoration projects through NRCS conservation programs have helped ranchers control juniper encroachment, and allow pasture to grow again in the rangelands.

Hayley Andrus runs a 700-cow ranching operation in Apache County with her husband. She struggled to keep the herd and the business afloat for nearly three years amid crippling drought. They were able to survive only because of conservation projects that allowed them to open new grassland and spread cattle to remote areas in years prior to the 2017-19 dry spell, she said.

“Without the projects that we implemented for conservation, I don’t think we would have been in business after 2019,” said Andrus, for whom the consciousness for natural resource preservation comes with the profession.

“Our sustainability is dependent on the land sustainability,” she said. “The rancher depends on the environment to live.”

The challenge for many farmers and ranchers like Andrus is finding the time and money to prioritize conservation practices while keeping daily operations going and not throwing profits off balance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered incentives for conservation practices for almost two decades, but making technical and financial assistance available to more farmers and landowners has been slower in some states than others, and funding has been very limited.

Now a historical investment could reshape and expand these programs across the country.

Five existing conservation programs from the Department of Agriculture will get a $20 billion boost from money allocated in the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Joe Biden this summer and touted as the “largest piece of climate legislation in the U.S. history.”The programs are run by the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and are designed to give farmers and ranchers an incentive to adopt practices for improving water and air quality, soil health, and surrounding habitat.

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“The direct benefit, initially, is for the natural resources, but the farmer also sees the economic benefit,” Arizona State Conservationist Keisha Tatem told The Arizona Republic.

“The better the health of the soil, the more productive that farmer can be with his crop system.”

The Department of Agriculture will be able to spend the funding from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2026, in annual increments, and extend authorization of the conservation programs until 2031.

The five programs receiving additional funding are:

Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, $8.45 billion. EQIP, the “fix it” program, offers one-time investments and assistance to implement new practices and basic conservation technology, such as money to invest in brush management, water efficient irrigation systems or ditch lining.
Regional Conservation Partnership Program, or RCPP, $4.95 billion. RCPP supports conservation projects of partner entities, nonprofits, conservation districts, or local agencies that work with other farmers and ranchers.
Conservation Stewardship Program, or CSP, $3.25 billion. CSP allows larger, whole farm stewardship projects and landowners to receive support to establish conservation plans.
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, or ACEP, $1.4 billion. ACEP provides easements to protect the use of agricultural land and wetlands for the long term or permanently.
Conservation Technical Assistance Program, or CTA, $1 billion. CTA provides training and information for conservation planning.

The remaining funds from the bill would cover administrative costs and help build an improved system to quantify and monitor carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen losses.

A ‘climate-smart’ twist

The current administration has emphasized using some of the IRA investment to advance the U.S. climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. The goal will affect how the Department of Agriculture prioritizes funds for NRCS.

The conservation programs will maintain baseline operations, while also adding extra funds for new programs that fall within the IRA guidelines.

For the new set of funds, programs like EQIP will likely prioritize grant proposals that reduce methane emissions from cattle (and other ruminants) by changing their feed. The IRA funding will also unlock extra funding for improving conservation practices like crop rotation, reduced tillage and planting cover crops. In the past, 50% of the program funds were dedicated exclusively to livestock operations.

State guidelines and fund use will vary. Arizona’s Natural Resources Conservation Service office has still not received the allocation for this funding period, but expects the national office will announce it in the coming months.

“There will be some changes because the IRA is very specific to the resource and issues we’re supposed to focus,” said State Conservationist Tatem. “Because it is focused on carbon, we are going to have a very specific focus on wildfire mitigation.”

IRA funding comes with conditions, but it does not affect or draw from the coffers of conservation programs that are already running and growing.

In northeastern Arizona, the Andrus family reduced the cost of some land management improvements through CSP, EQIP, and RCPP contracts. In the past seven years they have run projects for grassland restoration, drilled wells, put up fences for rotational grazing, and run extra water lines to spread out cattle and reduce the load on the land.

Andrus , who is also president of the Apache County Farm Bureau, hopes farmers and ranchers who haven’t been able to take advantage of the programs, which cover a portion of the costs for farm improvements and new practices, now will.

“You never feel like it’s a hand-out,” she said. “We put in the groundwork and we put in half the funds. It’s just that extra step to make it possible. I see more and more ranchers coming on board and being able to make these changes.”

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A call for equal distribution and region-specific solutions

Some of these programs have “the strongest suite of tools to support farmers as they mitigate and adapt to a changing climate,” according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which celebrated the signing of the IRA and the effort to prioritize climate solutions for agriculture.

Yet they have been “historically over-subscribed and underfunded,” according to the coalition. The intense demand for EQIP and CSP aid across the country is not being met.

According to a coalition analysis, using USDA data from 2010 to 2020, EQIP and CSP programs turn down about 69% and 58% of all applicants, respectively. Nationwide, EQIP turned down nearly a million contracts in only one decade.

Programs are also not a “one size-fits-all.” The requirements to apply and the practices or farm improvements offered are more appropriate for some regions than others.

Chelsea McGuire, director of government relations with the Arizona Farm Bureau, believes the additional funds could help correct and tweak programs to make sure the needs and characteristics on more agricultural regions are attended.

“Sometimes Western agriculture isn’t always the best fit for these (conservation) programs,” McGuire said.

One example is the recommendation to grow cover crops, plants that protect the soil and fix nutrients when there is not a commercial crop being grown.

“This really works in the Midwest, where they are not necessarily irrigating. In the West, where you need to use every irrigated acre that you have, a cover crop doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” she explained. “You are taking out a piece of potentially productive land for the cover crop. That doesn’t make economic sense, even with the (economic incentive).”

There used to be program restrictions based on land ownership. Prior to the 2018 Farm Bill, public lands were not eligible for CSP. Western farmers and ranchers run most of their operations on state and federal land and, while CSP contracts grew in other parts of the country, states like Arizona perceived full benefits from the program over one decade later.

Andrus believes the agency has the opportunity to work with long-time applicants to improve project guidelines and better serve farmers and ranchers in the region. Often, restrictions and rules in the project design are too constraining and don’t produce the best outcomes.

“I think there should be a little bit of more input from people on the ground when those checklists and rule-making are decided on,” she said. Because the rules are set at a higher level, they miss opportunities that are already there.

“(The programs) do a good job in general, but they are a little bit outdated,” she said. “A newer technology might come on board, but to get that through the rule-making process takes years, and we are stuck doing maybe not the most efficient things.”

Some of the conservation programs have taken time to pick up in Arizona, and growth hasn’t been consistent. In 2014 over 2.5 million acres were under conservation programs, but by 2021 the total had dropped to less than 1.5 million.

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Western senators believe the region could fare better if the $20 billion is distributed evenly and regional priorities are taken into the programs’ design.

Sixteen bipartisan senators, including Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., urged Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week to equally distribute the funding destined for conservation programs, and develop tailored solutions to support Western farmers. The initiative was led by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

Assigning funding evenly would adequately reflect the contribution of every region to American agriculture, the letter suggested. It would also address the “urgent priorities” of the region. In the past two decades, the Southwest has experienced the worst drought in 1,200 years, according to a scientific paper published earlier this year. The once-massive reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell have plummeted to historic lows and aggressive water cuts to farmers depending on the Colorado River will inevitably disrupt agriculture in the region.

Other funding streams will be available for Arizona to tackle drought and water shortages. An additional $4 billion was secured in August from the IRA to combat drought in the Colorado River Basin in an agreement reached by Arizona’s two senators, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. Those funds will be administered over the next four years by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The next iteration of the Water Resources Development Act and the Farm Bill Act are also expected to secure additional funding.

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