May 2019 Articles

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Ag-mazing Speech by Stephanie Cruse

Ag-mazing Speech by Stephanie Cruse The establishment of NRCS is credited to the efforts of Hugh Hammond Bennett (known as the Father of Soil Conservation) to raise public awareness of the problem of soil erosion. Bennett understood how soil erosion by wind or water reduced the ability of the land to sustain agricultural productivity. With Franklin D. Roosevelt as President in 1932, conservation of soil and water resources became a national priority in the New Deal administration. The Soil Erosion Service (SES) was established through the U.S. Department of Interior with Hugh Hammond Bennett as Chief. The SES traveled across the country to show landowners the benefits of conservation in critically eroded parts of the country. But no event did more to emphasize the severity of the erosion crisis than the Dust Bowl. Persistent drought conditions, widespread crop failures, and exposed soil led to frequent and intense dust storms. On March 6 and again on the 21, dust clouds passed over Washington and darkened the sky just as Congress began hearings on proposed soil conservation law. Bennett seized the opportunity to explain the cause of the storms and offer a solution. Due to his urging, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act that recognized “the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands is a menace to the national welfare” and established the Soil Conservation Service or SCS in 1935. In 1994, Congress changed the name to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to better reflect the broader scope of the agency’s concerns.
Today NRCS offers a variety of programs, as well as, conservation technical assistance or advice to help farmers, ranchers, and forest managers to voluntarily put conservation on the ground- helping the environment and agricultural operations. Although, the technical assistance does not include financial assistance, clients may develop conservation plans which serve as the foundation for participation in USDA programs. In Union Parish, the two most utilized programs are the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). EQIP provides financial and technical assistance to ag producers to address their natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality, reduced soil erosion and sedimentation, or improved or created wildlife habitat. Payments are made to participants after conservation practices identified in their Conservation Plan have been implemented. CSP helps ag producers maintain and improve their existing conservation systems by adopting additional conservation activities to address resource concerns. Participants earn payments for conservation performance- the higher the performance, the higher the payment. CSP provides two types of payments through 5-year contracts: annual payments for installing new conservation activities and maintaining existing practices AND supplemental payments for adopting a resource conserving activity. Producers must have control of the land for the term of the proposed contract. Contracts include all eligible land in the agricultural operation.
To apply for these programs, you must control or own eligible land, comply with adjusted gross income limitation provisions, be following the highly erodible land and wetland conservation requirements, work with NRCS to develop a Conservation Plan. EQIP applications will be ranked based on number of factors including the environmental benefits and cost effectiveness of the proposal. NRCS will work with you to determine your specific objectives for your ag operation, assist you with determining the resource concerns and what practices would address those concerns. Once selected for funding you will be provided with standards, specifications and designs, as well as, a specified time to complete the practices. Once the work is implemented, inspected and found to meet NRCS requirements, then you will be paid the cost share assistance. The payment rate varies by practice and changes yearly. It is based off a regionally developed cost list. To find out more about eligibility requirements, the application process, or technical assistance contact me or the NRCS office in your parish. We can walk you through all the paperwork or call in the specialists if your ag operation requires it. There are engineers, grazing specialists, foresters, and biologists that can be scheduled to assess your unique operation if needed.
Our ranking system is broken down into 3 parts: national, state, and local. The parish gets to set the priorities for the local ranking. Through our locally led meeting, individuals within the parish voice their opinions on the resource concerns they believe are most important. Questions and points are then assigned accordingly. We advertise in the paper the location, time, and date of this meeting at least two weeks before it is held every year. We are also designing a survey type method of collecting people’s opinions. If you cannot make the meeting this might be an option for you, or just give me a phone call or drop by the office when you do have a chance. If we do not currently offer something to address your resource concern- just be persistent. If enough voices are heard eventually we can receive some time of assistance. Feral hogs were a big issue for a long time we had nothing that could assist with that. Now we have a few pilot programs that are taking the first steps in showing how beneficial control of feral hogs is to agriculture. The new Farm Bill even makes provisions for this instance.
We do offer a few practices through EQIP that are unique to Union Parish since it is a large poultry producer. Two of the biggest practices are composters and litter barns. We offer two types of composters, the static bin barn composter and the rotary drum in-vessel composter. The rotary drum in-vessel composter is new to NRCS in Louisiana and Union Parish was the first in the state to have one installed. The story with Mr. Benny Archie was featured in the Louisiana NRCS Conservation Update and I believe is displayed in the museum. We also help retrofitting poultry houses. First you must have an energy audit, we can also assist you getting one of these. From the energy audit, our energy engineer designs what you need to meet our requirements to become energy efficient- this could be for lighting, heaters, fans, insulation, even service doors. We offer high tunnel houses including irrigation to extend the growing season- this can be for the small-time farmer growing vegetable to feed their family or someone who wants to grow to sell at a farmer’s market.
If you are interested in any of these programs, practices, or technical assistance, please visit one of the 44 NRCS offices located throughout the state. A Local Service Center Directory is available online at www.nrcs.usda.gov and more program information is also available at this website. Or you can contact me at 318-368-8021, the office is located at 501 Glory Road, Farmerville, LA 71241.