U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced an investment of over $325 million in 42 projects to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners boost their operations and conserve natural resources across the nation through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).
“The Trump USDA is committed to ensuring our farmers have the necessary tools to grow our food, and today’s announcement ensures a longer and more prosperous future for our American farmlands,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) pairs private investment with federal funds to deliver better results. Recently, we’ve taken steps to improve RCPP to reduce red tape and increase flexibility to better empower local partners to conserve natural resources while helping American farmers prosper.”
“Iowa’s popular Cattle and Conservation Working Lands Program demonstrates that we can improve water quality, rebuild the U.S. cattle herd and make the most of every acre of our valuable farmland,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “The Iowa Working Lands Program started out as a pilot project in Taylor County in 2016, and has since grown into a very successful conservation program in Iowa, while creating a model for other states. This RCPP gives us the flexibility to support infrastructure improvements and expand the program to serve livestock producers in more Iowa counties.”
Through RCPP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) works with partners to fund solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land. For example, today in Iowa, Secretary Rollins met with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to announce a project across western and central Iowa that integrates cover crops, forage and biomass plantings, watering systems, and other practices to support producers and working lands health. This partnership project will result in planting over 300,000 acres of cover crops and delivering reductions of roughly 3.3 million pounds of nitrogen, 336,000 pounds of phosphorus, and 1 million tons of soil loss, while strengthening grazing systems and producer profitability.
“At NRCS, we are committed to putting America’s farmers, ranchers, and private landowners first by investing in practical, producer-focused conservation solutions that strengthen agricultural operations and protect our natural resources,” said Colton L. Buckley, Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “Through RCPP, we are leveraging the power of public-private partnerships to deliver meaningful results for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. These investments will help producers address local resource challenges, improve the resilience of their operations, and keep working lands productive for generations to come.”
The Working Families Tax Cuts Act delivers the largest long-term investment in NRCS conservation programs in decades, including support for RCPP through fiscal year 2031.
In addition to the RCPP project in Iowa, a few other examples of projects include:
Southwest Georgia’s Longleaf Landscape project, led by Tall Timbers Research, Inc., which will work to protect at least 6,000 acres of rural working forest lands through voluntary conservation easements across 16 counties in southwest Georgia. By supporting landowners with technical expertise and conservation management plans, the project will restore fire-dependent longleaf pine forests, enhance habitats for at-risk wildlife, and safeguard water quality. This initiative addresses threats from land-use conversion, development, and changing timber markets, ensuring that working forests remain productive and ecologically healthy. With a strong partnership and over $10 million in matching contributions, the project will deliver lasting environmental, economic, and social benefits: preserving Georgia’s natural heritage and supporting local communities.
The Texas Coastal Prairie Working Lands Partnership, led by Texas Agricultural Land Trust, will work to advance NRCS’s commitment to keeping working lands in working hands by permanently conserving the Texas Gulf Coast’s remaining coastal tallgrass prairie through voluntary, producer-driven agricultural conservation easements. Development pressure, habitat fragmentation, and rising land values threaten the long-term viability of these working lands and the natural resources they sustain. By conserving productive agricultural lands, the partnership will help ensure these landscapes continue to support food and fiber production, wildlife habitat, healthy watersheds, and resilient rural communities while providing lasting public benefits for all Texans.
The Nooksack Watershed Restoration Phase 2 project, led by Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Indian Tribe, will work to revitalize critical salmon habitats in Washington’s Nooksack River watershed. Building on previous successes, this initiative will restore natural river processes by installing engineered logjams, enhancing floodplain and wetland habitats, and planting riparian trees across 256 acres. These actions are designed to improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat productivity, and provide thermal refuges for endangered salmon species, supporting both environmental recovery and resilience. The project addresses urgent conservation needs identified in regional recovery plans and leverages strong tribal partnerships, scientific monitoring, and collaborative landowner engagement to ensure lasting benefits for fish, wildlife, and local communities.
To learn more, view the full project list here.
In the past year, NRCS has improved RCPP, through streamlining partnership agreement processes and increasing flexibilities to ensure the program works more effectively for conservation partners and America’s farmers and ranchers. Seventy-five percent of the RCPP’s $325 million in funding this year will directly to the American farmer or is used to cover the cost of conservation practice implementation.
NRCS ranked proposals based on how they addressed the following priorities:
- Addressing soil health, water quality, or wildlife habitat with an aim to improve land health, enhance resource management, and promote sustainable agriculture and long-term protection of agricultural, grassland, and forestland viability.
- Soil health projects using practices that focus on minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil cover, increasing natural vitality, and maintaining living roots throughout the year.
- Leveraging precision agriculture technologies to target conservation efforts based on specific field conditions, potentially reducing costs and improving resource efficiency.
- Focusing on Farmers First projects, especially those that provide technical and financial assistance via contributions for planning and practice designs to support producer contracts.
- Supporting projects led by Indian Tribes. This funding opportunity included a $30 million set aside for projects with Indian Tribes.
For more information about RCPP, visit the RCPP webpage or watch Chief Buckley’s video.
For more than 90 years, NRCS has helped farmers, ranchers and forestland owners make investments in their operations and local communities to improve the quality of our air, water, soil, and wildlife habitat. NRCS uses the latest science and technology to help keep working lands working, boost agricultural economies, and increase the competitiveness of American agriculture. NRCS provides one-on-one, technical advice and financial assistance and works with producers to help them reach their goals through voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs. For more information, please visit nrcs.usda.gov.
Featured image credit: DepositPhotos.com
