ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Submit Comments on Conservation Funding and Implementation at NRCS

December 22, 2022 - Rachel K. Owen

This week, ASA, CSSA, and SSSA offered comments to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) regarding implementation of funding received through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support climate-smart agriculture and conservation that reflect the boots-on-the-ground realities facing producers enrolling and implementing conservation programs. We likewise were pleased to provide input from the scientific community on innovative means to quantify outcomes and tackle these challenges.

As the world’s population continues to grow, agriculture is being called upon to produce more while using an increasingly scarce supply of soil and fresh water, to steward the land for future generations, and to foster long-term environmental responsibility. On top of this grand challenge, agricultural production is threatened by weather variabilities caused by climate change, which produce conditions that exceed the tolerances of crops and livestock; increase favorable conditions for weeds, pests, and diseases; and increase weather and growing season variability. This will only become more extreme as greenhouse gas emissions continue to accumulate in the atmosphere. By embracing an integrated, systems approach that considers the delicate balance of relationships between the organisms that compose agricultural ecosystems, farmers are in a unique position to become climate heroes.

The first step toward achieving ecosystem balance is to decrease agriculture’s overall footprint. Making changes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions now will make it easier to offset, through sequestration and otherwise, emissions that cannot yet be avoided. The science is clear on which reductions will be necessary, and how they can be achieved, but there is no single solution, no magic bullet. Our nation needs are a collection of context-specific practices tailored for each region, each climate, each soil type, and each farming system.

Strategies for water and nutrient management, reducing emissions, sequestering carbon, preventing erosion, reducing stress on plants and animals, protecting germplasm and crop wild relatives, and reducing or repurposing waste must be weighed against their costs and agronomic impact. Every farm is unique; every situation complex. However, with multifaceted communication and outreach, including standardized data collection, trusted technical assistance, and networks of demonstration sites and information sharing, this complexity presents opportunities to maximize a farm’s unique potential to reduce agriculture’s collective footprint. To meet these needs, we recommended the following priorities for implementing the IRA funding:

1. Invest in Research to Improve Quantification Methods
2. Engage the Private Sector and Private Philanthropy to Leverage IRA Funds
3. Prioritize Practices with Proven Benefits and Support On-Farm Research
4. Coordinate Internal and External Efforts to Improve Program Delivery
5. Leverage Partnerships with Trusted Advisers to Deliver Technical Assistance

Click here to read our full comments. Please direct questions to Rachel Owen with the ASA, CSSA, SSSA Science Policy Office at Send Message.