USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) assists farmers, ranchers and foresters with conservation practices on their operations. Now that the new year has begun, this could be a good time to review your farm’s conservation plan. A conservation plan identifies your conservation objectives and assesses and analyzes the natural resources issues on your land.

The conservation plan includes tools and resources customized specifically for you, like a land use map, soils information, photos, inventory of resources, economic costs and benefits, schedule of recommended practices, maintenance schedules, and engineering notes — all based on your goals and the resource needs.

This technical assistance from NRCS is free, and it can help you reduce soil loss from erosion, solve issues with soil, air and water quality, reduce potential damage from excess water and drought, enhance the quality of wildlife habitat, address waste management concerns, and improve the long-term sustainability.

How does conservation planning work? NRCS is here to provide one-on-one support to our customers at our 61 USDA Service Centers statewide. NRCS staff can help guide farmers to the best USDA assistance based on their conservation goals. You will meet with your local NRCS district conservationist, or conservation planning technician, for a science-based evaluation of the problems and opportunities on your land. NRCS staff members then analyze the findings and recommend the best strategies to address your issues and achieve valuable conservation opportunities and objectives.

Farmers who work with us at their local USDA Service Center can:

• Verify eligibility for USDA programs

• Discuss their business and conservation goals

• Create a conservation plan

• Learn how to meet conservation compliance provisions

A conservation plan is critical to maintain and improve your operation’s productivity. Plans of any kind are important as they set goals and outline how to reach them. Conservation plans are roadmaps for improving your operation while conserving natural resources. They provide proven strategies that landowners can use to solve identified natural resource concerns and take advantage of conservation opportunities.

If you’re interested in finding out more about conservation planning, I encourage you to contact your local USDA Service Center to discuss your operation’s needs.

See what other landowners are doing – Learn more about the benefits of conservation practices directly from the farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners applying them with our Conservation at Work series. Explore the different types of conservation practices by watching these 90-second videos.

Now through February 22, 2024, Arkansas NRCS will implement ACT NOW. The ACT NOW process will be used for some EQIP and CSP funding pools. Through ACT NOW, NRCS can immediately approve and obligate a ranked application when an eligible application meets or exceeds a determined minimum ranking score. This means no longer having to wait for all applications to be reviewed and preapproved in that ranking pool. More information and guidance will be forthcoming on ACT NOW ranking pools later. NRCS accepts producer applications for its conservation programs year-round. To apply for fiscal year 2024 funding, contact your local NRCS office. See additional information on program application submission dates in the article below.

Important Dates to Remember:

• February 23, 2024: Calendar Year 2024 CSP Payment Deadline

Arkansas farmers and ranchers who are interested in planning and competing for potential funding opportunities should ACT NOW.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will be utilizing ACT NOW to process conservation applications in some ranking pools to deliver a conservation product faster.

Fiscal Year (FY)2024 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) ACT NOW allows Arkansas NRCS to immediately approve and obligate ranked applications in a designated ranking pool when an eligible application meets or exceeds the state-determined minimum ranking score. ACT NOW will utilize minimum ranking score thresholds for each ranking pool. This means no longer having to wait for all applications to be reviewed and preapproved in a ranking pool.

If a farmer or rancher has a pending Environmental Quality Incentives Program application at their USDA Field Service Center, or has never applied for EQIP, this is their chance to ACT NOW. This provides producers an opportunity to update their conservation plan or apply for a conservation plan for EQIP to address resource concerns on their property.

Arkansas FY2024 ACT NOW Opportunities include:

• AR Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative
• Conservation Practices available for funding: 325-Seasonal High Tunnel
• Minimum Ranking Score Threshold: 100 points
• AR Soil Health Initiative
• Conservation Practices available for funding:  340 Cover Crop, 328 Crop Rotation, 590 Nutrient Management, 329 Residue and Tillage Management (No-Till), 345 Residue and Tillage Management (Reduced Till), 336 Soil Carbon Amendment
• Minimum Ranking Score Threshold: 150 points
• AR Energy Initiative:
• Conservation Practices available: 374 Energy Efficient Agricultural Operation, 670 Energy Efficient Lighting System, and 672 Energy Efficient Building Envelope
• Minimum Ranking Score Threshold: 50 points

Farmers and ranchers are encouraged to be prepared to provide information about their anticipated crop rotation, any soil testing, and other relevant resource information like a nutrient management plan, soil health assessment, and pest management plan, including a chemical list for crop fields you wish to enroll. This preparedness will help to facilitate planning their project.

How to Apply

NRCS accepts applications for conservation programs year-round, but to be included in this ACT NOW funding opportunity, interested producers should contact their local USDA Service Center. Arkansas NRCS will use the ACT NOW process for some EQIP funding pools and projects beginning January 22, 2024, through February 22, 2024. 

Applicants are encouraged to work with NRCS and the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) to complete eligibility requirements at their earliest convenience during the application process and to update all their agricultural records for FY2024.  Please visit your local USDA Service Center for additional information about ACT NOW or for information about other NRCS Farm Bill programs. You can locate your local Field Service Center at USDA Service Center Locator.

Meet Armondo White, a veteran and Black farmer in Marvell, Arkansas. Amidst the sprawling fields of the Delta, Armondo works with his wife, Andrea, and their two daughters, Madam and Ava, to combat food insecurity by bringing fresh, healthy produce to their community. 

Growing to Give it Away

Farming has always been in Armondo’s DNA. His father and grandfather were sharecroppers. Growing up, Armondo and his family spent long hours tending to and harvesting crops—just so they could give them away to their neighbors.

“I didn’t understand at the time why we were working so hard just to give all that food away. But that’s the most important thing my father taught me: selfless love for my community,” Armondo explains. “Now, I have this desire to be able to offer everyone access to fresh fruits and vegetables.”

This desire remained dormant until Armondo’s service with the U.S. Army in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. Witnessing hunger and scarcity sparked a fire within him, especially once he realized that hunger was not a distant issue. He’d seen it back home. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, underscoring our food system’s fragility.

“I asked myself what would happen if the grocery stores shut down while I had a family to feed. It was a huge eye-opener.”

Shifting Perspective

Armondo’s perspective shifted from farming as an extracurricular activity to a full-time job. Realizing he could grow more than enough food for his family, he began cultivating for the wider community too, recognizing the need to address food disparities especially within Black communities.

Armondo grows a variety of produce, including cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, salad greens, and okra, and he raises chicken, fish, lamb, and cows. He carted along his fresh fruits and vegetables and offered them to people when he’d deliver newspapers, with many customers offering to pay what they could for the produce.

“I wanted to purchase a mobile food trailer and offer 'take what you need, give what you want' days to help [provide access] to high quality, fresh, affordable organic vegetables,” Armondo said. By fostering a culture of mutual support, he's helping create a network of neighbors who look out for each other.

But he says he can’t do it alone. With the guidance and support of NRCS staff at the USDA Field Service Center in Phillips County, Armondo’s farming aspirations have taken root. Armondo has obtained a hoop house, farm well, pumping plant, micro-irrigation pipeline, and synthetic mulch. Through his Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) Urban, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) contracts, Armondo can make his vision for his family’s farm a reality.

“[The] Natural Resources Conservation Service has been a lifeline as far as the resources and support their people have provided us in the last few years,” Armondo explains. “I’m grateful for NRCS helping people like me and my family that are striving to help out the rest of their community.”

Armondo also wants other producers to know that USDA can help them. When a couple recently shared their troubles with their outdoor garden due to crop overspray, he advised them to contact the local USDA Service Center office in Helena-West Helena for help.

“About a week later while I was visiting the office, I saw them there completing their paperwork for a [high] tunnel house,” he said. “I was overjoyed to know that they had followed up on the advice and hopeful [that they are] on the road to having a successful year.”

Armondo’s commitment extends beyond providing fresh produce. He believes in teaching the value of connecting with others.

“I feel an obligation to Black communities and younger generations to put the ‘neighborly’ part back into the meaning of the word ‘neighborhood’,” he said. “If I don’t set a good example by reaching out to others, who will? I’m just doing what I believe we were all put on this earth to do—and that’s to help one another.”

More Information

Visit local farms, ranches, forests, and resource areas through our Fridays on the Farm stories. Meet farmers, producers and landowners who are working to improve their operations with USDA programs.

Claire Kausch is a public affairs specialist for NRCS in Arkansas

Upon initial observation, you might only notice an assortment of flowers. However, a few minutes of closer inspection within the Garland County Conservation District’s pollinator gardens in Hot Springs, AR reveals a vibrant tapestry of life: an unmoving green lynx spider awaiting its next meal; an eastern carpenter bee “nectar robbing” a foxglove beardtongue by biting into the flower and sucking up its nectar; a mining bee circling a lance-leaved coreopsis. They are all drawn to the garden for their native plants.

In our ecosystem, native plants play pivotal roles. Numerous essential native pollinator species rely solely on these native plants for sustenance and shelter. Native plant species are better equipped for our Southern climate, having adapted to Arkansas’s wet springs and dry summers. Their deep root systems prevent soil erosion and improve soil aeration and quality, ultimately benefiting the local farmers who provide the food we rely on. By cultivating gardens that attract native pollinators, we not only conserve our natural ecosystem but also support the future of agriculture.

The Garland County Conservation District (GCCD) vigilantly oversees three pollinator gardens in Hot Springs: the Hot Springs Child Care Center Pollinator Garden, the Entergy Park Pollinator Garden, and the Farmers’ Market Pollinator Garden. Each garden was planted with distinct goals: fostering environmental education for families, encouraging nature recreation and preserving habitats, and introducing green spaces within urban landscapes.

Guiding these gardens' growth are Garland County District Conservationist Andres Aponte, District Secretary Hesper Hortman, the Garland County Master Gardeners, and dedicated community members like Marcia Jones, a Hot Springs Child Care Center teacher.

The Hot Springs Child Care Center Garden, funded through the AR Game and Fish Wildlife Conservation Education Grant Program, flourishes behind the preschool. Children and parents are encouraged to participate in tending to the garden, engaging in education activities throughout the year such as monarch butterfly releases.

Hortman's passion for her involvement is rooted in the families who participate. “The children and their families get so excited to see how the native plants attract all these different native pollinators. They love getting to see how they’re helping those habitats thrive.”

Amid the pandemic's restrictive measures, a downtown pollinator garden emerged just steps away from the farmers market pavilion. The "Farmers Market Pavilion" harmoniously merges urban life with untamed spaces, offering a fresh perspective to those less exposed to such green havens.  The GCCD office envisions integrating the garden into the farmers market experience, elevating awareness about pollinator species and native plants.

"If a shopper decides that they want to be intentional about helping our environment through growing native plants, they’d have an array to choose from right here at their fingertips,” says Aponte.

Over in Entergy Park, a blooming pollinator garden extends a warm welcome to park visitors. Planted in 2022, the Entergy Park Garden is a tribute to the late Kelly Bufkin, a Farm Bill Biologist for Quail Forever and a cherished friend to many GCCD and Natural Resources Conservation Service staff members. The GCCD cultivated this garden for the community to enjoy the natural beauty that Bufkin worked hard to conserve and protect. This garden also carries the distinction of being a certified Monarch Waystation, offering a haven to monarch butterflies during their North American migration.

Thanks to the dedication of the Garland County Conservation District and community members, these gardens educate, inspire, and advocate for the future of agriculture. As these gardens grow, they remind us of our responsibility to protect the delicate balance of life around us.

Claire Kausch is a public affairs specialist for NRCS in Arkansas