We deliver conservation solutions so agricultural producers can protect natural resources and feed a growing world.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary conservation initiative aimed at encouraging producers to adopt more conservation activities alongside improving, maintaining, and managing existing ones for the betterment of working lands. This program is recognized as the largest conservation effort in the United States, covering over 70 million acres of productive agricultural and forest land. CSP supports a wide array of lands including cropland, pasturelands, rangeland, farmsteads, and non-industrial private forest lands as well as agricultural lands under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe, thereby providing equitable access to producers regardless of operation size, crops produced, or geographic location. Key areas of focus include enhancing soil, water, air, plant, animal, and energy resources. Benefits observed by the program participants include improved cattle gains per acre, increased crop yields, decreased inputs, wildlife population improvements, and better resilience to weather extremes. CSP offers financial incentives to participants for both maintaining existing conservation activities and for implementing new conservation practices, with a payment limitation of $200,000 for individuals and up to $400,000 for joint operations over the term of the initial five-year contract, which is renewable subject to the fulfillment of the initial contract and the agreement to achieve additional conservation goals. Applications are ranked based on the level of conservation treatment, the degree to which proposed conservation activities increase conservation performance, and the number and extent of resource concerns addressed by the contract's end.