GILROY
– Federal officials will explain conservation programs and
bureaucratic changes under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new
Farm Bill to interested farmers, agencies and organizations in a
seven-county area – including Santa Clara and San Benito counties –
at a special forum in Salinas next
Monday.
GILROY – Federal officials will explain conservation programs and bureaucratic changes under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new Farm Bill to interested farmers, agencies and organizations in a seven-county area – including Santa Clara and San Benito counties – at a special forum in Salinas next Monday.
“Understanding the programs is the first step to participation,” said Charles Bell, a conservationist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NCRS. “Within the scope of information currently available, we want all interested Californians to have their questions answered about these new conservation opportunities.”
The government will kick off two new conservation programs next year through the new Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
According to the NCRS, the new voluntary Conservation Security program will provide financial and technical assistance for conservation and improvement of soil and water, including payments for producers who have historically practiced good stewardship. Another new program will focus on grasslands.
Existing conservation programs include:
• The Environmental Quality Incentives program, which offers financial and technical help to install conservation practices.
• The Wetlands Reserve program, which offers financial incentives to enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring marginal land from agriculture.
• The Farmland Protection program, which provides matching funds to purchase conservation easements.
• The Wildlife Habitat Incentives program, which encourages creation of upland, wetland, riparian and aquatic habitat on farm properties.
Besides discussing those programs, officials say Monday’s forum will also allow discussion on the roles of government agencies, resource conservation districts and other agricultural and conservation organizations in the structure of the new Farm Bill.
For example, some technical assistance traditionally performed by NCRS conservationists may now be done by vendors.
The Resource Conservation District of Monterey County will co-host the event with the NCRS.
The forum is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 25 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Salinas Community Center, 940 N. Main St. in Salinas.
For information, call Emily Hansen at (831) 424-1036 Ext. 124.
