Land-Linking, Conservation Partnerships, and More

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Taylor in Farming Resources, Finding Land, News, Policy, Politics, Sustainable Agriculture // 0 Comments

Land-Linking through the TIP, Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and more news from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

Ways to Improve Land-Linking Through the Transition Incentives Program

Access to farmland remains one of the most difficult challenges that new and historically underserved farmers face when getting started in agriculture. One of the tools to help connect farmers with available farmland is the Conservation Reserve Program – Transition Incentives Program (CRP-TIP), which encourages landowners to transition CRP farmland to beginning, socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers and ranchers. In this post, NSAC presents recommendations on how to best utilize the outreach and technical assistance funding provided in the 2018 Farm Bill to create land-linking opportunities for new and historically underserved farmers. The post also covers cross-agency strategies to improve program implementation, as well as ideas to improve CRP-TIP in the 2023 Farm Bill. READ MORE

A Deeper Dive: The Regional Conservation Partnership Program Rule

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) has helped conserve thousands of acres across the country by promoting partnerships between producers and organizations, with support from the federal government. Earlier this year, the Interim Final Rule on RCPP was released, detailing how changes made to the program in the 2018 Farm Bill will be implemented. While many of the changes in the rule track nicely with the changes made in the 2018 Farm Bill, this post highlights areas of concern that NSAC is planning to raise in its comments on the rule. Concerns include ensuring fairness for small and socially disadvantaged producers, the need for payment limits to be established, and adding soil quality degradation as a priority resource concern to all Critical Conservation Areas. READ MORE

NSAC is Hiring!

Are you interested in sustainable agriculture and looking to learn more about federal policy? Would you enjoy working with a passionate, high-performing, member-engaged, and collaborative policy team that is dedicated to working for racial equity? If so, please consider applying to be NSAC’s new Policy Fellow!

NSAC is currently seeking a Policy Fellow to start in early July 2020 and lasting until May 2021. This position is paid, full-time, includes benefits, and is located at NSAC’s Washington, D.C. office on Capitol Hill. Full-time remote work for a portion of the position tenure is possible due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. Learn more about the position and apply here; application deadline is May 29, 2020.