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Inflation Reduction Act
Agriculture Magazine, Fall, 2022 - Page 21
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BozEmAN CHroNICLE
BOZEMAN — Agriculture conservation programs popular among Montanans will see unprecedented new funding over the next 10 years, following the passage of the roughly $770 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
The legislation marks the largest U.S. investment in climate change mitigation to date, and it banks on agriculture playing a key role in addressing the climate crisis.
The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will receive nearly $20 billion to bulk up agriculture conservation programs that help Montanans bolster soil health, water quality, and other natural resources on their land.
The USDA calls these programs “ oversubscribed,” meaning they receive more applications than they can fund. In Montana, the programs often can only fund one person for every three who apply, according to Walter Schweitzer, president of the Montana Farmers Union.
Following the IRA’ s passage, “right away, three times more farmers can participate in those programs, ” Schweitzer said.
Of the NRCS programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) will receive $8.45 billion in new funding, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) $4.95 billion, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) $3.25 billion, and the Agricultural Conservation Easement program (ACEP) $1.4 billion – all of which are widely used across the state.
Chris Mahony, district conservationist for Gallatin County, said the NRCS agricultural conservation programs are voluntary, and provide financial incentives to participate. In general, they help cost-share the price of implementing practices that will help improve land over time, like cover cropping or rotational grazing to bolster soil health. Some programs can also help expand land in conservation easements.
Local working groups on each watershed meet and outline their natural resource priorities to share with the NRCS, Mahony said. For Gallatin County, the conservation priorities include soil health, forest resiliency and fuel reduction, watershed health and water quality, and animal confinement. Projects that further those conservation efforts are prioritized in the county, Mahony said.
“We want to help people help the land,” Mahony said.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which aims to build local partnerships with NRCS to co-invest in conservation work, will receive $4.95 billion in new funding.
For the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, money from the RCPP program has allowed them to grow the amount of land and landowners in conservation easements, while also expanding conservation practices through partnerships. They partnered with 16 local organizations, including the Association of Gallatin Agriculture Irrigators, MSU Extension, and the Gallatin Conservation District, to join the program.
In May 2015, GVLT received $3.8 million from RCPP. $3.1 million of that funding was allocated to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program to help put more farm and ranch land in easements, while the other $700,000 went to EQIP to do conservation projects.
Brendan Weiner, conservation director for GVLT, said the RCPP expanded the work the land trust can do because it offered region-specific funding they didn’ t have to compete for statewide.
Many landowners are interested in conservation easements, but lack the resources needed to make that a reality. This program provides extra money to complete those projects.
“The money fills an unmet need — now we can do more projects and work with new landowners specific to the area, ” Weiner said.
The IRA also allocates $1.4 billion directly to the Agricultural Conservation Easement program, which helps fund agricultural easements across the country.
Weiner said through their involvement in RCPP, GVLT and its partners were able to turn roughly $4 million
racHel leaTHe, bOzeman Daily cHrOnicle The sun sets on a field of harvested wheat west of Bozeman.
Page 22 - Agriculture Magazine, Fall, 2022 of federal money into $25 million of total land conservation value in the Gallatin Valley.
In fact, the project was so successful GVLT was able to renew the funding in 2020 to do it all over again.
The RCPP money that goes to EQIP for the project is also beneficial, Weiner said. Doing conservation work on land already in easements provides the security of knowing that land won ’ t just be developed down the line. Instead, the conservation changes made through EQIP will stay in place in perpetuity.
“That’ s ideal,” Weiner said.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) will get $8.45 billion in new funding. The program helps agriculture producers and non-industrial forest managers address natural resource concerns and improve environmental health.
Over the past decade in Montana, many farmers and ranchers have signed contracts with EQIP and used the funding to shift their management practices, like John Wicks, a farmer near Ledger, who grows organic pulse crops like lentils, chickpeas and barley.
Wicks signed his first contract with EQIP a few years back. Through that three-year contract, NRCS helped cover the costs associated with cover cropping. They paid for both a portion of the seed mixture itself, and the loss of revenue for planting a cover crop over one he could sell for profit, Wicks said.
That EQIP contract also helped pay for Wicks seeding pollinator strips of flowers around his farm to attract more bees and native pollinators.
Wicks signed a new five-year contract with EQIP this March. This time the funding will help cover the extensive soil testing he did on his farm this spring to get a better idea of the nutrients his land needs to be most productive.
But what Wicks is most excited about is his new stripper header for harvesting grain. A machine that can cost upwards of $90,000, a stripper header removes the head of the grain but leaves the stem and root systems intact – helping the soil retain more moisture and nutrients than if the entire plant were harvested.
Wicks has wanted a stripper header for a while, but couldn’ t afford the high cost — until enrolling in the EQIP program, which will pay for the bulk of it.
“If they’ re going to help with the cost of something new — I say let’ s try it,” Wicks said.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will receive $3.25 billion in additional funding.
That program helps producers build on their existing conservation efforts while sustaining the operation and its natural resources.
For Jeff Bangs, who ranches cattle and sheep and grows pulse crops north of Inverness, the CSP program has helped accelerate his no-till and rotational grazing efforts.
The biggest change for Bangs since starting the program has been reintegrating grazing on his cropland. Specifically, Bangs is trying to start grazing his cows and sheep on the land he cover-crops to bolster soil health even more.
The direction the USDA is headed is prioritizing soil health, Bangs said, based on which programs were injected with IRA funding. That’ s the way he wants his operation to move too.
“NRCS programs have value to producers and ecosystems, ” Bangs said. “The ag community should look for ways to work with the NRCS to improve the resiliency of their operations, in the face of climate change and consolidation in the ag industry. ”
Bangs added that agriculture conservation money helps small and medium-sized farms stay in business. The programs both add value to the operation and also ensure the land stays viable for agriculture for generations to come.
Schweitzer, president of the Montana Farmers Union, said the prominence of agriculture conservation in the climatefocused sections of the IRA “looks really good for agriculture. ”
Schweitzer is excited for the $300 million to bolster carbon sequestration research on working lands. Ranchers have the power to reverse climate change, he said, through agriculture practices that capture carbon.
Schweitzer also highlighted the $500 million set aside in grants to improve infrastructure for renewable biofuels grown by agriculture producers.
“Some people say ranchers are to blame for climate change, ” Schweitzer said. “But at the end of the day, I hope they see that ag makes a positive difference. It could be the solution to climate change. ” AG
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