AM Minnesota Tuesday: Conservation Stewardship Program

Thomas Steeger, district conservationist at the Goodhue County Natural Resources Conservation Service, sent me an email asking me to help inform landowners about the Conservation Stewardship program. This program has been around for a couple of years. It is a way to reward landowners for doing a good job protecting water and natural resources. It is a voluntary program that does require some paperwork, however, local USDA Service Centers have the technical staff to evaluate and maintain sound resource protection on farms.

Conservation Stewardship program applications are accepted on a continuous basis. However, applications must be in by February 3 to be considered for funding in 2017. Steeger said, "they are working with a whole new screening and review system starting this year. The Conservation Stewardship program has been revamped to better target conservation efforts." For more information or to see if your farms would qualify for this program, talk with your staff at your local USDA Service Center or listen Tuesday morning at 9:30AM for KDHL's AM Minnesota program. In addition later Tuesday the program will be on our website, kdhlradio.com.