Conservation Security Program
American conservation program
The Conservation Security Program (CSP) was a voluntary conservation program in the United States that supported stewardship of private agricultural lands by providing payments and technical assistance for maintaining and enhancing natural resources. The program promoted the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy, plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes. Congress established the CSP under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA), which amended the Food Security Act of 1985. The program was administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In 2008 Congress enacted the 2008 Farm Bill and replaced the Conservation Security Program with the similarly named, but differently structured Conservation Stewardship Program. In FY 2024 the Conservation Stewardship Program had $364,090,393 obligated in 5,268 contracts with producers which was 20 percent of the Soil and Water Conservation Act (RCA) programs.
Program coverage
The CSP was used on Tribal and private working lands. All 50 states and U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific basins had incorporated the CSP. The program provides equitable access to benefit all producers, regardless of size of operation, crops produced, or geographic location. The CSP helps producers maintain conservation stewardship and implement additional conservation practices that provide added environmental enhancement, while creating powerful incentives for other producers to meet those same standards of conservation performance. The NRCS believes "The conservation benefits gained will help farms and ranches be more environmentally sustainable and will increase the natural resources benefits provided to all Americans."
Program tiers
Participants in the CSP sign a Conservation Security Contract stating which of the three levels (also referred to as tiers) of conservation they will maintain on lands in production in return for annual payments.
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