The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers financial and technical assistance to producers who wish to implement conservation practices on their land while maintaining agricultural production. The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are two such programs administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). For years, the demand for these programs has exceeded the amount of funding available, leaving many producers without support to build environmentally sustainable operations.
In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) appropriated more than $19.5 billion to support climate-smart agriculture, including $8.45 billion for EQIP and $3.25 billion for CSP to fund additional contracts through 2026. This paper examines the IRA’s impact through 2024 on these working lands conservation programs in Iowa.
