NSAC's Blog
A Closer Look at the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program in 2014
February 12, 2015
In early September of 2014, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced that it had awarded $328 million for 380 wetland, grassland, and farmland conservation easements covering 129,000 acres in the first year of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).
At that time, NRCS did not have additional information on the types of easements that were funded in each state. That information has now been made available and this post examines the fiscal year (FY) 2014 ACEP enrollment on a state-by-state basis to determine the top states for wetland easements, farmland easements, and grassland easements.
State-By-State Breakdown
For FY 2014, the top ten states in terms of financial and technical assistance obligated to farmers, land trusts, and other eligible entities for all types of easements were:
| State | Dollars obligated |
| Florida | $30.8 million |
| Arkansas | $19.9 million |
| California | $19.1 million |
| Louisiana | $16.9 million |
| Iowa | $13.3 million |
| Texas | $10.5 million |
| Kentucky | $10.4 million |
| Ohio | $8.5 million |
| South Dakota | $7.6 million |
| Mississippi | $6.5 million |
In the tables below, we list the top ten states in terms of acreage and number of contracts for wetland easements, farmland easements, and grassland easements.
Wetland Easements – by number of projects
| State | Number of Projects |
| Arkansas | 30 |
| Louisiana | 22 |
| Iowa | 18 |
| North Dakota | 16 |
| Kentucky | 16 |
| South Dakota | 15 |
| Kansas | 14 |
| Mississippi | 13 |
| California | 12 |
| Wisconsin | 12 |
Wetland Easements – by number of acres
| State | Acres Enrolled |
| Louisiana | 7,473 |
| Arkansas | 6,955 |
| California | 4,738 |
| North Dakota | 3,604 |
| Florida | 3,518 |
| Georgia | 3,046 |
| Mississippi | 2,264 |
| Texas | 2,096 |
| Minnesota | 2,014 |
| South Dakota | 1,877 |
Grasslands of Special Environmental Significance – by number of projects
| State | Number of Projects |
| Utah | 5 |
| California | 3 |
| Kansas | 3 |
| Nevada | 2 |
| Idaho | 2 |
| Nebraska | 2 |
| Montana | 1 |
| Texas | 1 |
Grasslands of Special Environmental Significance – by number of acres
| State | Acres Enrolled |
| Montana | 19,452 |
| Utah | 9,312 |
| California | 6,515 |
| Nevada | 4,556 |
| Kansas | 3,883 |
| Idaho | 3,839 |
| Nebraska | 1,406 |
| Texas | 210 |
Farmland Easements – by number of projects*
*Not including Grasslands of Special Environmental Significance
| State | Number of Projects |
| Vermont | 23 |
| Massachusetts | 18 |
| Kentucky | 14 |
| Ohio | 13 |
| Connecticut | 12 |
| New Jersey | 11 |
| Michigan | 10 |
| Colorado | 10 |
| New Hampshire | 8 |
| Florida | 7 |
Farmland Easements – by number of acres*
*Not including Grasslands of Special Environmental Significance
| State | Acres Enrolled |
| Florida | 7,040 |
| Colorado | 6,700 |
| Ohio | 3,870 |
| Montana | 3,291 |
| Wyoming | 3,132 |
| Vermont | 3,078 |
| California | 2,533 |
| Kentucky | 1,340 |
| Michigan | 1,126 |
| Connecticut | 983 |
Technical Assistance
Particularly noteworthy in this year’s sign up is that the proportion of mandatory easement dollars going to NRCS Technical Assistance (TA) increased significantly from the levels provided through the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Farm and Ranch land Program (FRPP) under the 2008 Farm Bill.
NRCS uses this type of conservation technical assistance funding (known as direct, or “mandatory” spending) to help producers implement conservation activities on their land.
Between 2009 and 2012, NRCS apportioned roughly 8 percent of WRP funding and 4 percent of FRPP funding for TA. For the first ACEP enrollment period, NRCS apportioned nearly 18 percent of total ACEP funding for TA.
One of the most persistent problems with WRP under the 2008 Farm Bill was the shortfall in TA dollars needed to restore wetlands. Over the years, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) routinely shortchanged NRCS in the amount of TA funding apportioned for WRP. This is one reason that a substantial wetland restoration backlog developed.
During the 2014 Farm Bill debate we worked with partner organizations to secure more flexibility for USDA to make these apportionment decisions. We are very pleased with USDA’s increased focus on technical assistance, and urge the agency to continue to address the wetland restoration backlog.
Background
The 2014 Farm Bill created ACEP by combining three former programs – WRP, FRPP, and the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP). ACEP is divided into two components: a wetland easement component, which largely mirrors the former WRP, and an agricultural land easement component, which is intended to retain the purposes and functionality of GRP and FRPP.
As we previously reported, for 2014 NRCS received 1,450 ACEP applications, requesting a total of $546 million in funding. From the application pool, NRCS is funding 53 percent of agricultural land easement applications and 51 percent of wetland easement proposals. Of total ACEP funding for 2014, 68 percent ($223 million) went to wetland easement projects, while 32 percent ($105 million) went to agricultural land easement projects.
For more information about ACEP, visit our Grassroots Guide to the 2014 Farm Bill.
Categories: Conservation, Energy & Environment, Farm Bill, Grants and Programs