Issue 8

Federal Programs Supporting Agroforestry

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). FSA provides incentives for adopting agroforestry practices on private lands through the Conservation Reserve Program, the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program, and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. These programs provide soil rental payments, cost shares, and other financial incentives to landowners who agree to retire or convert agricultural lands to alternative uses including riparian buffers, windbreaks, and tree planting. Learn more about FSA programs in your State, at the USDA Service Center locator: offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). In addition to providing technical assistance to landowners interested in agroforestry and other conservation practices, the NRCS provides funding for tree planting (including agroforestry) through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), Conservation Security Program (CSP), and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). EQIP provides incentive payments for alley cropping, riparian buffers and windbreaks, and cost shares for tree planting. For more information: www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/.

Forest Service. The Forest Service encourages agroforestry adoption through the Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP). FLEP provides cost-share assistance (up to 75 percent) to owners of nonindustrial private forestlands to implement management plans to produce sustainable public environmental benefits, including water from forests. For more information about how FLEP operates in your State, contact your State forester at www.stateforesters.org/SFlist.html.

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