by Meryl Nass

• Despite the additional Inflation Reduction Act funding, NRCS still did not fund nearly 64% of the applications received for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship (CSP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) applications.

• In fiscal year 2024, NRCS made over $3 billion available from the Inflation Reduction Act for climate-smart agriculture and forestry (CSAF) mitigation activities, in addition to the $2 billion available from the Farm Bill for all conservation activities. The agency obligated 97.6% of all available fiscal year 2024 Inflation Reduction Act conservation program financial assistance funds, or more than $1.6 billion, to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners across America. Learn more by using the Inflation Reduction Act Data Visualization Tool. Further details on program enrollment in fiscal year 2024 are also available in a fact sheet and in NRCS Financial Assistance Program Data.

• For fiscal year 2025, the third year of implementation, NRCS is making up to $7.7 billion available for conservation and climate-smart practices through Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act funding.

• A total of $19.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act is available over several years for climate-smart agriculture and forestry mitigation activities, including through NRCS conservation programs: EQIP, ACEP, RCPP and CSP. These programs also help advance the President's Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure 40% of the overall benefits of certain climate, clean energy and other federal investments reach underserved communities.

This is probably an initial step toward the Rewilding Program discussed in the 1995 UN Report I posted about yesterday.