Conservation Security Program
Conservation Incentive Program Fact Sheet

• Program Name: Conservation Security Program
• Abbreviation: CSP
• Primary Goal: Reward stewardship and environmental sustainability.
• Contact Agency: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
• Where Applicable: Selected Priority Watersheds.
• Other Sources of Information: NRCS Office in the local USDA Service Center.

Prepared by Virginia State Technical Advisory Committee.

Program Description and Requirements

The Conservation Security Incentive Program (CSP) is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private agricultural lands by providing payments for maintaining and enhancing natural resources.

The CSP sign-up will be offered in selected priority watersheds across the nation. Producers will complete a self-assessment to determine eligibility. Eligible producers within the watersheds submit an application and complete an assessment of existing conservation treatment on their land. Based on the assessment and a follow-up interview, NRCS will determine program eligibility for the applicant.

Both the producer and the producer's operation must first meet basic eligibility criteria:

• The land must be privately owned or tribal land with the majority of the land located within a selected priority watershed.
• The applicant must be in compliance with highly erodible land and wetland provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, have an active interest in the agricultural operation, and show control of the land for the life of the contract.
• The applicant must share in the risk of producing any crop or livestock and be entitled to a share in the crop or livestock marketed from the operation.

All applicants must meet the following minimum tier eligibility and contract requirements plus any additional requirements in the sign-up announcement:

• For Tier I, the producer must have addressed water quality and soil quality to meet the minimum treatment requirements on part of the agricultural operation prior to acceptance into CSP.
• For Tier II, the producer must have addressed water quality and soil quality to meet the minimum treatment requirements on the entire agricultural operation prior to acceptance and agree to address one additional resource by the end of the contract period.
• For Tier III, the producer must have addressed all the resource concerns at a fully sustainable level that meets the Field Office Technical Guide standards on the entire agricultural operation before acceptance into the program and agree to additional enhancement activities outlined in the sign-up announcement.

Contract payments include one or more of the following:

• An annual stewardship component for the qualifying conservation treatments.
• An annual practice component for those maintaining existing conservation practices.
• A one-time new practice component for specific additional needed practices.
• An enhancement component for conservation effort and additional conservation practices or activities that provide increased benefits.

All programs, activities, and services of the conservation partnership are available to people on a nondiscriminatory basis regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, physical ability, political affiliation, and marital or familial status. We are all equal opportunity employers.

Last modified 2007-07-12