Late last month, Congress passed and the President signed a continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded through September 30, the end of the current federal fiscal year. While there was some good news related to agricultural conservation program funding, there were also some disappointments, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

The Continuing Resolution restored enough funding to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can enroll approximately 12 million more acres in the program during the remaining six months of the fiscal year. Without that additional funding, NRCS would not have been able to solicit additional enrollment in CSP during FY 13.

In terms of bad news, funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program was cut by $350 million and another $12 million was dropped from the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. These decreases are on top of the 5.8 percent reduction applied earlier this fiscal year through cuts included in sequestration legislation. All told, the cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs amount to over $560 million for FY 13. (pmr)