Conservation

One step forward, two steps back for conservation

IRA freeze and DOGE cuts limit farmer access to popular conservation programs. The on-farm conservation programs EQIP and CSP provide vital support for farmers to increase resilience and improve environmental outcomes on their farms. But following federal cuts to USDA funding and staffing, program acceptance rates dropped off steeply in fiscal year 2025. Learn more in our latest report.

USDA’s new Regenerative Agriculture Initiative: A step forward or greenwashing?

In late 2025, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the launch of a Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program, also known as the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (RAI).

Climate-smart farming has risen the ranks in Midwest states

Since 2021, EQIP contracts for "climate-smart" practices have increased above general practices in all 12 Midwest states with help from IRA funding  Summary 

Hedging your bets: Congress threatens to take away key farmer program for economic and conservation resilience

CRP provides farmers with some certainty in the face of uncertain markets 

Let's Keep the Door Open

After years of underfunding and oversubscription, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding in fiscal year 2024 (FY24) helped thousands more farmers enroll in two federal conservation cost share programs: the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).

USDA Farm Conservation Program Q&A

On May 13, IATP hosted a new installment of our “Shaping the Future of Food” webinar series with Michael Happ, IATP program associate for climate and rural communities. In the webinar, Michael discussed the unmet demand among U.S. farmers for the popular USDA conservation programs EQIP (Environment Quality Incentives Program) and CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program). 

IATP comments on USDA NRCS Climate Smart Agriculture Conservation Practice Standards

The following comments were submitted by IATP Dec. 23, 2024 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. View a PDF of the full comments here.

Hay’s in the field and a storm is brewing: Another year without a new Farm Bill?

You can’t make hay unless the sun is shining. If the Farm Bill is hay, and the sunshine is time left in Congress’s schedule, then the sunshine is waning for a new Farm Bill to be passed before the current bill’s Sept. 30 expiration date.

[Watch] Finding the Funding: Federal conservation and crop insurance policy takeaways in a Farm Bill year

Watch the recording of our May 13, 2024 webinar, Finding the Funding: Federal conservation and crop insurance policy takeaways in a Farm Bill year. 

Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds expensive industrial agriculture practices, turns aspiring conservationists away

MINNEAPOLIS—A new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) finds that an outsized share of the funding for the conservation program Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) financed expensive practices with little or no conservation benefits, while two-thirds of farmer applicants were rejected from the program