In the News
‘Like a ghost town’: Employee exodus hammers farm conservation agency
A federal agency that provides critical land management assistance to American farmers has quietly gone dark in swaths of rural America. Agriculture Department offices for the government’s Natural Resources Conservation Service are operating with skeleton crews across the country — or no staff at all, in some cases — at a time when farmers want
Read More ‘Like a ghost town’: Employee exodus hammers farm conservation agency
Regenerative Ag and MAHA Now Linked | By Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor
USDA will spend up to $700 million to help more farmers use regenerative agricultural practices as part of the Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. The pilot program will use $400 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and $300 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and will also leverage private funding to promote conservation practices such as cover crops while helping farmers reduce the use of chemicals such as pesticides. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the pilot program on Wednesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Read More Regenerative Ag and MAHA Now Linked | By Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor
Op-ed: Pa. farmers need conservation programs now more than ever
My name is Amanda Butterfield and together with my husband, I run a beef cattle operation in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania — a 180-acre cow-calf operation in the Laurel Mountains of Somerset County.
Read More Op-ed: Pa. farmers need conservation programs now more than ever
USDA staff cuts threaten Arkansas farmers
Tim Wells is a busy guy. His day job is working at First National Bank in Paragould as an ag loan officer. In the evenings, he does excavation work and operates his own gravel quarry. And on top of that, he runs a generational cattle farm called Sugar Creek Ranch. Wells says it was through
Read More USDA staff cuts threaten Arkansas farmersNEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on Congressional Letter Urging USDA to Address NRCS and FSA Understaffing
Today, Invest in Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels issued the following statement in response to a letter led by Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA), signed by 14 other House Members, to Richard Fordyce, the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address understaffing at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Read More NEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on Congressional Letter Urging USDA to Address NRCS and FSA Understaffing
Farmers push for restored USDA staffing
Invest in Our Land’s Executive Director Rebecca Bartels explains why farmers nationwide are urging Congress to rebuild USDA staffing to protect conservation programs and support agriculture.
Read More Farmers push for restored USDA staffing
Farmers and Ranchers Urge Congress to Restore USDA Staffing After Major 2025 Workforce Losses and Proposed Additional Cuts in FY27 Agency Budget
Washington, D.C. — Today, more than 500 producers from across the country urged Congressional leaders to prioritize funding and staffing for Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agency that delivers federal conservation programs to America’s farmers and ranchers.
Read More Farmers and Ranchers Urge Congress to Restore USDA Staffing After Major 2025 Workforce Losses and Proposed Additional Cuts in FY27 Agency Budget
Critics angry over Trump budget cuts to food
The Trump administration has released a budget that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said “has made historic progress on righting our fiscal ship” and “returned accountability to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” among other accomplishments, but critics said it would take away food from poor people in the United States and abroad.
Read More Critics angry over Trump budget cuts to food
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Invest In Our Land is committed to bringing farmers and policymakers together to protect the future of American agriculture.
