The National Association of the Conservation Districts is approaching federal farm policy from the standpoint of accountability.
The locally-led districts that plan and execute conservation practices on fragile land favor policy that gives weight to preplanning and cost effectiveness. The federal money that helps conservation plans come to fruition is tight making it more important to be able to determine that the money is spent wisely, said John Larson, CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts.
“To have a conservation plan, it sets the blueprint for that farm as to what conservation practices are going to help them on a long-term basis to be more natural resource sustainable, but also looking at the economic component too,” said Larson, in an interview with Brownfield Ag News, following the group’s policy setting session Tuesday.
The concept, made part of the association’s policy, is referred to as a priority resource assessment, which involves forward planning of conservation projects to show they’re needed and workable.
“It’s a ‘pre’ concept looking at a producer having the ability to have questions that really point him either towards the need to have a developed conservation plan or his ability to show that he has that plan in place and here are the steps he’d like to take utilizing the technical and financial resources of the federal programs to implement that plan,” said Larson.
The policy was put in place not only because the group’s delegates felt that it’s prudent to plan such projects prior to construction, but to provide an accounting of how that money is being spent, said Gene Schmidt, president of the NACD.
“We can truly be accountable for the resource needs across this country and truly document to the general public where those tax dollars are being utilized and the progress we’re making in conservation,” Schmidt told Brownfield Ag News.
Policy setting was surrounded this year by what seems to be inevitable cuts in all titles of the 2012 farm bill. But leaders in the NACD want to maintain adequate funding to implement conservation practices that will provide protection to fragile lands subjected to weather disasters.
“We don’t want to take an unfair cut in the whole process that would take away what we call some equal share” of government assistance with conservation projects, said Schmidt.
A farmer from northwest Indiana, Schmidt stresses that even though cuts may be inevitable, a strong conservation title should be maintained “so we don’t look back 30 years from now wishing we’d made a better investment in our resource base.”
AUDIO: John Larson (12 min. MP3)
AUDIO_ Gene Schmidt (3 min. MP3)
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