In the United States, a conservation easement is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a "land trust", or a governmental entity to constrain, as to a specified land area, the exercise of rights otherwise held by a landowner so as to achieve certain conservation purposes. It is an interest in real property established by agreement between a landowner and land trust or unit of government. The conservation easement "runs with the land", meaning it is applicable to both present and future owners of the land. The grant of conservation easement, as with any real property interest, is part of the chain of title for the property and is normally recorded in local land records.
In agriculture, rotational grazing, as opposed to continuous grazing, describes many systems of pasturing, whereby livestock are moved to portions of the pasture, called paddocks, while the other portions rest. Each paddock must provide all the needs of the livestock, such as food, water and sometimes shade and shelter. The approach often produces lower outputs than more intensive animal farming operations, but requires lower inputs, and therefore sometimes produces higher net farm income per animal.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.
Farmland preservation is a joint effort by non-governmental organizations and local governments to set aside and protect examples of a region's farmland for the use, education, and enjoyment of future generations. They are operated mostly at state and local levels by government agencies or private entities such as land trusts and are designed to limit conversion of agricultural land to other uses that otherwise might have been more financially attractive to the land owner. Through different government programs and policy enactments farmers are able to preserve their land for growing crops and raising livestock. Every state provides tax relief through differential (preferential) assessment. Easements are a popular approach and allow the farms to remain operational. Less common approaches include establishing agricultural districts, using zoning to protect agricultural land, purchasing development rights, and transferable development rights. It is often a part of regional planning and national historic preservation. Farmland preservation efforts have been taking place across the United States, such as in Virginia, Minnesota, Maryland, Florida, and Connecticut.
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidies as well as pursuing areas such as energy, conservation, nutrition, and rural development. Some specific initiatives in the bill include increases in Food Stamp benefits, increased support for the production of cellulosic ethanol, and money for the research of pests, diseases and other agricultural problems.
Conservation finance is the practice of raising and managing capital to support land, water, and resource conservation. Conservation financing options vary by source from public, private, and nonprofit funders; by type from loans, to grants, to tax incentives, to market mechanisms; and by scale ranging from federal to state, national to local.
The Youth Conservation Corps(YCC) is a paid summer youth work program in federally managed lands. The National Park Service, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management employ teens each summer to participate in the YCC. The YCC has introduced young Americans to conservation opportunities in public lands since the program was created in 1970. In the late seventies and early eighties the program included a grant-in-aid component that funded state and local YCC projects nationwide. This element fell to 1982 budget cuts, but several states continued the effort with their own funds. Some employees currently working in land management agencies were introduced to their profession through the YCC.
University of Florida Center for African Studies (CAS) is a center within of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Florida (UF). The Center provides teaching and research into issues of African languages, humanities, social sciences, agriculture, business, engineering, education, fine arts, environmental studies, conservation, journalism, and law.
The Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) was a United States government program administered by the Farm Service Agency. It was the first conservation cost-sharing program, established by Congress in 1936 in the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act. The ACP and paid farmers up to $3,500 per year as an incentive to install approved practices for soil conservation and to protect water quality.
The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program was authorized in the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act and was repealed and replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill. Administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, it was used to implement salinity control measures, primarily to manage irrigation water using financial and technical assistance to landowners. This program supported U.S. efforts to meet international treaty obligations for downstream water quality in Mexico. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation administers its own Colorado River Salinity control Program.
The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act, Public Law 93-320, and the laws authorizing three other conservation cost-sharing programs were begun June 24, 1974. In the 1996 farm bill, Public Law 104-127, they were repealed and replaced by a new cost-sharing program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a United States government program designed to assist farmers in improving environmental quality, particularly water quality and soil conservation. Congress established the program in the 1996 farm bill to provide primarily cost-sharing assistance, but also technical and educational assistance, aimed at promoting production and environmental quality, and optimizing environmental benefits.
State technical committees are advisory groups to state conservationists created in the 1990 farm bill and amended in the 1996 farm bill. These groups can include representatives from agencies, agriculture, agribusiness, and non-profits, as well as individuals with a demonstrated expertise. Responsibilities assigned by the 1996 farm bill include establishing procedures for evaluating petitions on new conservation practices and identifying priority areas for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and Wetland Reserve Program (WRP).
A Limited Resource Farmer or Rancher is one of a larger group of “targeted farmers" that also includes beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Limited Resource Farmers are characterized by having limited farm sales and income. The USDA created the Limited Resource Farmer and Rancher program to ensure that these farmers and ranchers can develop economically viable farms, have access to USDA support, and ensure that programs are in alignment with farmer and rancher needs and concerns.
In United States agricultural policy, the Ground and Surface Water Conservation Program (GSWCP) is a new component of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) enacted in the 2002 farm bill to improve irrigation and water use efficiency, and reduce water use by agriculture. Mandatory funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) starts at $25 million in FY2002, and increases to $60 million annually between FY2004 and FY2007. In addition, $50 million is to go to the Klamath Basin in Oregon and California to carry out water conservation activities.
The Great Plains Conservation Program (GPCP), initiated in 1957, provided cost share and technical assistance to apply conservation on entire farms in 10 Great Plains states from the Dakotas and Montana to Texas and New Mexico. Contracts were limited to $35,000. At the end of 1995, over 6,800 farms in 558 counties with 20 million acres (81,000 km2) were participating. It was replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill.
Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, or Joshua's Trust, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust operating in northeast Connecticut. Joshua's Trust was incorporated in 1966 to help conserve property of significant natural or historic interest. As of 2011, the Trust protects more than 5,000 acres, maintains 42 miles (68 km) of trails that are open to the public, holds educational outreach programs, and publishes the Joshua's Tract Walkbook.
A sustainability organization is (1) an organized group of people that aims to advance sustainability and/or (2) those actions of organizing something sustainably. Unlike many business organizations, sustainability organizations are not limited to implementing sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. For sustainability organizations, sustainability can also be an end in itself without further justifications.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is the department of the New York state government that enforces laws relating to agriculture, weights and measures, and the production, processing, transportation, storage, marketing and distributing of food. It principally investigates animal and plant diseases, regulates food safety and labeling, promotes state agriculture, and administers the New York State Fair. Its regulations are compiled in title 1 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations.
The Bolsa Floresta Program is a program run by the Amazonas Sustainability Foundation in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, to encourage conservation of forests through sustainable use. It provides direct financial assistance and indirect support to the residents of sustainable use protected areas of Brazil in exchange for their engaging in conservation measures.
