The Farmland Stewardship Program
Please scroll down and select links of interest to you

Now expanded to accommodate all types of land uses

See links to right and scroll down (or click on links) to see description of:
background,
development,
implementation and
final outcome
below.

For information, visit the following links: 

Quick Update - 2002 Farm Bill Implementation | Overview of the Farmland Stewardship Program | Program Basics | Why Participate? | Status | Conservation Priorities | USDA Rule Making Comments | Comments on TSP rule | Legislation | Farm Bill Excerpts | History of the Farmland Stewardship Program | View Streaming Videos |

How it got started: Moving from the "Panthers & Private Lands" project to "Resource Conservation Agreements" and the "Farmland Stewardship Program":  An April 2000 Progress Report sent to project participants on the results of seven years of meetings and workshops describes the "switch point" -- where work began in earnest at the national level to implement the project's concepts. To view this progress report, click here.

Background:  The Farmland Stewardship Program
Please click on your choice:

1.  Overview - Why the Farmland Stewardship Program is Important

The Farmland Stewardship Program represents a breakthrough approach to conserving the privately owned lands that provide our food and fiber -- and hold so much of the habitat for wildlife and other key natural resources. Find out why. 

2. Summary

Over a five-year period, private landowners, conservation interests, agriculture groups, and government agencies held discussions that led to the development of the Farmland Stewardship Program. Here's how it works.

Here are a series of links describing the Farmland Stewardship Program Basics:
-- Flow Chart - How Services & Money Are Delivered to Producers
-- Definition
-- Purposes
-- Eligible Lands 
-- Agreements with States, Indian Tribes and Nongovernmental Organizations
-- Sample Contract, Appendix and Attachments
-- the "Service Contract" Concept
-- Pre-Application Contract
-- Adjusting Existing Programs to Local Needs
-- Payments and
-- Participation

5. Benefits  

Here's a list of 35 ways in which the Farmland Stewardship Program will make existing conservation programs more effective.

6. Payments

Various incentives can be used to compensate landowners for entering into a Farmland Stewardship Agreement. Here are some of the key options available.

Rule Making Comments:  click here

Developing the Farmland Stewardship Program
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To view the progress report where the "Panthers & Private Lands" project was transformed into the "Farmland Stewardship Program" and work began in earnest at the national to implement the project's concepts, click here.

16. An Overview - Guidelines

Various groups and interests in Florida came together over a two-year period to discuss the Farmland Stewardship Program and how the approach should be implemented. Here's an overview of those discussions followed by the general guidelines that emerged. 

17. The Proposed Farmland Stewardship Program Agreement

A Model Contract

Here's the text of a proposed agreement that can be used to implement the Farmland Stewardship Agreement. The agreement is made up of three parts -- (1) a 2-1/2 page contract (see contract); (2) a 14-page appendix (see appendix) and (3) exhibits and attachments (see outline of exhibits and attachments).  These documents can be used to assemble and coordinate as many programs as you want on a single parcel of land, even as many as 40 or 50 different programs! For an example of how this can be implemented, see model project.

18. Cost Calculation

Here is a tool to determine the cost of the various activities associated with the maintenance of habitats for wildlife, wetlands and other natural resources under the Farmland Stewardship Program. 

19. Land Assessment

To determine which property should be covered by a Farmland Stewardship Agreement or other conservation programs, a University of Florida wildlife ecologist developed criteria for assessing land. Here's an explanation of his evaluation technique. 

20. Short-Term (or Pre-Agreement) Contract

Short-term contracts provide payments over a two-year period to landowners wishing to participate in the Stewardship Agreements and to the supervising organization or agency as baseline data is gathered, documents are prepared and the formal Stewardship Agreement is negotiated. Here's an outline of the proposed contract.

Model Project:
Hall's Tiger Bay Ranch
     

This is the documentation prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service for the model project carried out on a Central Florida ranch.

Other Possible Projects:
20 landowners - 170,000 acres
     

Over 150 landowners with nearly 1,000,000 acres of land have expressed interest in participating in the Farmland Stewardship Program. Here are brief property descriptions from the first 20 landowners who expressed interest in the program in Florida and the reasons behind their decision to participate.

A comprehensive, regional approach to conservation:

1.   harnesses the market economy (rather than pitting development & conservation against each other)

2.  uses private investment and profit to pay for protection,

3.  promotes economic development, and

4. results in environmentally compatible settlement patterns

For details, see alphabetical list of Programs & Services