In Fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supported more than 23,000 climate-focused conservation contracts funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. Those investments covered over 11 million acres, which contributed to the highest total investment in private lands conservation in any year in the history of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action in history, bolstered funding for NRCS’ in-demand conservation programs for climate-smart practices on farms, ranches, and forests. NRCS also released updated state-by-state data showing where financial assistance went in fiscal year 2024 for resources provided under both the Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act.
Despite the additional Inflation Reduction Act funding, NRCS still did not fund nearly 64% of the applications received for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program applications.
In fiscal year 2024, NRCS made over $3 billion available from the Inflation Reduction Act for climate-smart agriculture and forestry 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.
This funding positively impacted farmers, ranchers and forest landowners across the nation. To highlight how meaningful this funding was to individual landowners, NRCS also released an interactive map that shows farmers, ranchers and forest landowners across the nation who are adopting climate-smart conservation practices with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Importantly, these investments provide critical co-benefits for farmers and communities, including for water conservation, wildlife habitat, soil health, and more.
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.
To learn more about NRCS programs, contact your local USDA Service Center.