USDAʼs conservation programs provide incentives to agricultural producers to improve soil health, wildlife habitat, and water and air quality, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Over time, conservation funding authorized by Farm Bills has changed both in aggregate and in the relative shares of funded programs. In fiscal year 2024, estimated USDA conservation funding authorized by Farm Bills stood at $5.7 billion, with three programs (the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)) accounting for approximately 90 percent of funding. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided more than $19 billion in supplemental conservation program funding to be spent from 2023–31, on EQIP, CSP, as well as the Agricultural Conservation Easements Program (ACEP), and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). This report provides a summary of USDA conservation programs and their funding, with a focus on conservation programs in the 2002−18 Farm Bills.
