Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is celebrating IRA’s historic investments in rural America.
“It really is a once in a generation, once in a lifetime level of investment. We haven’t seen this level of investment, for example in conservation, since the Dust Bowl,” reported Mark Dorenkamp.
About half of this funding (roughly $20 billion) will support conservation programs that are oversubscribed, meaning there are currently more agricultural producers who want to participate than there is funding for. This expanded access to conservation assistance that will combat climate change.
These programs include:
$8.45 billion for EQIP
$4.95 billion for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
$3.25 billion for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
$1.4 billion for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)
Other portions of this funding will go to energy efficiency and reliability, forest conservation, and more.
