As we begin our new Fiscal Year, I want to thank our NRCS employees and Conservation District partners for all their hard work this past year for our clients, our staff, the agency and Rhode Island agriculture & forestry. I recognize the extra efforts that they all made to obligate our increased funding and expand our agency’s efforts to meet our new agency priorities.

Their drive to protect our natural resources and help our clients and communities resulted in our highest contract obligation and practice implementation rates ever. In fiscal year 2024, we received 348 applications for our conservation programs (EQIP, AMA, RCPP and CSP), 296 (85%) of which received funding, of which 55% were for historically underserve (HU) clients. This is a 44% increase of total funds spent to help our farmers, forest landowners and communities conserve resources and improve resiliency to combat climate change.

Overall, NRCS in Rhode Island obligated over $8.6 million in financial assistance (FA) through our conservation and easement programs and $16.19 million through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). Additionally, we made over $4.4 million in practice implementation payments for existing contracts and obligated about $1.6 million in cooperative agreements with partners. Finally, we hired 15 new positions this year to help implement and obligate our increased funding levels.

We will face new challenges this year to implement historic levels of funding - more than $16 million - through an extended 2018 Farm Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We strongly encourage Rhode Island farmers, forest managers, oyster growers, ranchers, urban growers and other agricultural producers to apply for assistance to our conservation programs to achieve our mission of helping all to help the land.

R. Phou "Pooh" Vongkhamdy
NRCS Rhode Island State Conservationist

On Oct. 2, USDA announced up to $7.7 billion in assistance for fiscal year 2025 to help farmers and forest managers adopt conservation practices on working lands. It includes up to $5.7 billion for climate-smart practices funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and $2 billion in Farm Bill funding. This historic level of federal funding includes more than $16 million available to Ocean State producers through NRCS in Rhode Island. 

"We are excited to support Rhode Island’s farmers & forest managers with an historic investment in conservation this Fiscal Year," said NRCS Rhode Island State Conservationist, R. Phou Vongkhamdy. "With the addition of Inflation Reduction Act funds, we have more than doubled our federal funding allocation to help farmers address their natural resource concerns and achieve their stewardship goals."

Through changing temperatures, precipitation patterns, drought, flooding, and increasingly more severe extreme events, such as hurricanes and wildfires, climate change is affecting the livelihood of USDA’s stakeholders. Innovations in adapting to such changes will be central to the future success of working lands. 

Learn how we can help you make your ag operation more resilient to climate change!

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The RI Forest Health Works RCPP Project is now accepting applications for funding for fiscal year 2025. The RI Forest Health Works Project is a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) agreement between NRCS, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Division of Forest Environment and ten partners to protect critical forests across Rhode Island. 

The RI Forest Health Works Project provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve forest lands and their related benefits through U.S.-Held Easements that allow eligible landowners to enter into direct contracts with NRCS to place conservation easements on their land to protect critical forestlands. Applications can be submitted through the November 13, 2024, ranking cut-off. Learn more...

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This World Habitat Day (Oct. 7), NRCS unveiled new research that explores how grazing impacts solitary ground-nesting bees, and other critical pollinators, including the supportive role grazing animals like cattle have on maintaining reproductive habitat for ground-nesting bees on western rangelands. Pollination is critical to the world’s food supply, that’s why this research is important to continue supporting vital pollinators and to increase their populations so that they can play a larger role in crop pollination. Learn more...

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NRCS Rhode Island State Conservationist, Pooh Vongkhamdy, participated in a panel forum where he spoke about the NRCS Pathways Program to students in the Land Trust Alliance Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program. He also shared about his career with NRCS and how they too can find rewarding and diverse careers in conservation working for NRCS. Vongkhamdy and Easement Programs Division Realty Specialist Marcus Griffin were selected to be “Rally Mentors” to scholars students to help guide them through their first Rally experience.

In addition, NRCS set up three exhibits at the conference to feature conservation easement programs and how collaborative conservation can lead to greater shared outcomes. Learn more...

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NRCS shares new conservation takeaways from university studies in collaboration with USDA.

Findings from recent Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) studies can help landowners get the most “buzz” from their pollinator habitat conservation choices. Virginia Tech collaborated on a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the impacts of NRCS’s voluntary conservation practices on pollinator habitat nationwide. This study identifies 51 NRCS conservation practices that benefit pollinators and provides insight on the best areas to target pollinator habitat to maximize those benefits. A regional study in the southeastern U.S. by Auburn University assessed the attractiveness of native wildflower species to bees and found there are three clear favorites. Learn More...

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The Programs Team welcomes Amy Hughes as new Easement Specialist - Stewardship and Restoration Lead for NRCS Rhode Island. 

Amy Hughes (she/her) is a conservation biologist passionate about landscape connectivity, community-led conservation, and sustainable agroecosystems. She earned a bachelor's degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. While there she contributed to a variety of research and conservation efforts, including wild game management, threatened and endangered species monitoring, GIS and database management, and migratory bird-window collisions and stopover habitat use. She also earned a master's degree in Biology from William & Mary College in Virginia, where her research focused on pollinators and agrochemical ecotoxicology. Amy went on to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in southern California to conduct Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultations and Section 10 conservation planning. She then facilitated Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to clean up legacy oil and gas pollution on Tribal, public, and private lands across the country with the Department of the Interior's Orphaned Wells Program Office in Washington, D.C. She is very excited to join NRCS to lead stewardship and restoration for easements across Rhode Island. In her free time, Amy enjoys reading, creating music, plant-based cooking and baking, bouldering, and hiking with her partner and two rescue dogs. Please join us in welcoming Amy to our NRCS team!

The Management & Strategy Team welcomes Christopher Toti as new Administrative Support Specialist for NRCS Rhode Island.

Chris recently retired from the Rhode Island Army National Guard, where he served as a Program Manager. He is a 30-year Army Veteran and life-long resident of Pascoag, in the Town of Burrillville. Chris is a member of numerous community organizations, including the Community Baptist Church of Pascoag, American Legion Post 88, Burrillville Historical Society, Burrillville 250 Celebration Committee, Burrillville Recreation Committee, Pascoag Fire District (Chairman of the Board of Directors), and the Elks of West Warwick. His two sons, Christian and Cameron, and interests in reading, running, historical battlefield research, historical cemetery restoration, and teaching and training occupy his free time. Please join us in welcoming Chris to our NRCS team!

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Howard Tucker III is nominated in LAA 1, Providence County, to serve as a COC member for a 3-year term beginning January 1^st, 2025. Howard resides in Chepachet and runs the family farm he grew up on which focuses on both livestock and vegetable production. Howard earned a degree in electronics and engineering which he put to use in his service with the U.S. Coast Guard and Army National Guard and also during his time as an employee for the USPS. Howard is excited for the opportunity to serve as a representative of the farmers in his community if he is elected.

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USDA announces an additional $250 million in automatic payments for distressed direct and guaranteed farm loan borrowers under Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act. This significant step continues USDA's commitment to keeping farmers and ranchers financially viable and support for agricultural communities.

Over the past two years, USDA acted swiftly to assist borrowers in retaining their land and continuing their agricultural operations. Since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August 2022, the USDA has provided approximately $2.4 billion in assistance to more than 43,900 distressed borrowers. Learn more...

USDA encourages producers to reach out to their local FSA farm loan staff to ensure they fully understand the wide range of loan making and servicing options available to assist with starting, expanding, or maintaining their agricultural operation. To conduct business with FSA, producers should contact the RI FSA Office at (401) 828-3120 (ext. 2) or email Emma Schlam at Emma.Schlam@usda.gov.

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Looking for ways to do business with USDA that saves you time? Look no further than farmers.gov.

When you create an account for the farmers.gov authenticated customer portal, you have access to self-service features through a secure login. Managing your business with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is faster than ever. From e-signing documents, viewing, printing, and exporting maps and receiving notifications of payment disbursements, a farmers.gov authenticated account makes doing business with USDA easy and secure.

What can you do with your farmers.gov account?

• View FSA Farm Loan information including interest payments, loan advances, payment history and paid-in-full/restructured loans.
• Make USDA direct farm loan payments using the Pay My Loan feature.
• Access the Online Loan Application portal.
• View, print and export detailed FSA farm records and farm/tract maps.
• Import precision agriculture planting boundaries, create labels containing crop information, and print both on farm tract maps.
• View and print your FSA-156EZ with farm details
• View and print your Producer Farm Data Report
• View NRCS Disbursements and Farm Loans financial activity from the past 180 days.
• View your land, access NRCS data on your conservation plans, contracts, and planning land units through the Conservation Land Area page.
• View, upload, download and e-sign NRCS documents.
• Request NRCS conservation and financial assistance, including submitting a program application.
• View detailed information on all previous and ongoing NRCS contracts, including the amount of cost- share assistance received and anticipated; and even request contract modifications, report practice completion and request practice certification.
• “Switch Profiles” to act on behalf of your entity or another individual when you have active representative authority on file

If you’d like to see the features in action and learn more about how to use them, check out the 3-5 minute farmers.gov account video tutorials.

How do you create a farmers.gov account?

Visit farmers.gov/account to access information about farmers.gov accounts and sign in to the site’s authenticated portal. You will need a Login.gov account linked to your USDA customer record to access your farmers.gov authenticated site. Customers who are new to USDA should visit Get Started at Your USDA Service Center, then go to farmers.gov/account to create a farmers.gov account.

To create a farmers.gov account you will need: 

• A USDA individual customer record — A customer record contains information you have given to USDA to do business with them, like your name, address, phone number, and any legal representative authority relationships. Contact your local USDA Service Center to make sure you have an individual USDA customer record on file and your information is up to date.
• A Login.gov account — Login.gov is a sign-in service that gives people secure online access to participating government programs. You can create a Login.gov account linked to your customer record by following the directions on farmers.gov/account.
• Identity Verification — You can choose to verify your identity with Login.gov or in-person at a USDA Service Center.

In addition to the self-service features, farmers.gov also has information on USDA programs, farm loans, disaster assistance, conservation programs and crop insurance.

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Crop insurance is a risk management strategy that farmers use to protect their livelihoods. By purchasing a policy through a crop insurance agent, farmers are financially protected if there are losses due to a covered cause of loss. It’s not so different from car or homeowners insurance.

Start your journey out right by reading the USDA Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Beginners Guide to Crop Insurance.

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