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Phone 828.285.9340 Fax 828.285.9348 www.agcenter.org

**Written Statement**

**of**

**Lawrence Elworth**

**Executive Director**

**Center for Agricultural Partnerships**

**to the**

**House Agriculture Committee**

**Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research**

**Hearing**

**April 19, 2007**

# 

# Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about the issues faced by specialty crop growers, which now account for close to 50 percent of domestic farmgate crop value, in making use of conservation program opportunities. My comments focus primarily on the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the unique challenges facing specialty crop producer participation in the program. 

**INTRODUCTION**

The Center for Agricultural Partnerships (CAP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization based in Asheville, North Carolina, whose mission is to
create programs for solving agricultural problems that help farmers
adopt more environmentally sound and profitable practices. Since its
inception in 1996, CAP has worked with more than 100 organizations and
companies in thirteen states to help farmers use more effective farming
practices on more than 400,000 acres.

Enactment of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm
Bill) created the potential for significant opportunities for specialty
crop producers and other farmers (small, limited resource and minority
farmers) who had not participated previously in conservation programs.
However that potential has not been realized. In fact, if one could
track the difference between the amount of financial assistance received
by major crop and livestock producers since the passage of the Farm Bill
and the financial assistance received by specialty crop producers, the
disparity would likely be staggering.

Certainly there have been significant examples of specialty crop
participation in conservation programs in a number of states - from the
apple orchards of western North Carolina to mushroom operations that I
recently visited in Chester County, PA. However, the overall amount of
specialty crop involvement has been marginal and the successes in one
growing region have not generally been transferred to other areas.

Since 2002 CAP has made a considerable investment of time and resources
working with partners in several states including North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Wisconsin, Washington, and Georgia,
to increase the ability of specialty crop growers, as well as limited
resource and minority farmers, to gain meaningful access to EQIP. In
doing so, we have

seen first hand the hard work and dedication of NRCS conservation
district staff at the national, state and local levels, particularly in
my home state of North Carolina. At the same time we have encountered
significant challenges that limit the ability of specialty crop
producers to participate in conservation programs.

**CHALLENGES**

There are a number of circumstances that effectively limit meaningful
access by specialty crop producers, who, by and large, have not
typically participated in federal conservation programs:

-   Growers have little or no knowledge of program opportunities,
    benefits, and procedures and do not receive timely information about
    them

-   Transaction costs for specialty crop growers are significant since
    the learning curve is steep and their likelihood of success is often
    minimal

-   Cost share rates for practices appropriate for specialty crops are
    either insufficient or non-existent

-   Knowledge of the range of practices is extremely limited so that
    growers' applications fail to rank high enough for their
    applications to be approved

-   Very few growers have conservation plans

-   Supporting institutions such as Cooperative Extension or land grant
    staff who work with specialty crops have little or no knowledge of
    conservation programs

-   There is often no effective access to technical assistance for the
    implementation of these practices: Technical Service Providers (TSP)
    are rarely a realistic option

-   The Adjusted Gross Income provision limits access for many otherwise
    eligible specialty crop producers

For NRCS staff, there are parallel circumstances that have limited their
ability to work extensively with specialty crop producers:

-   NRCS typically has little familiarity with the production systems

-   There are minimal working relationships between NRCS staff and
    specialty crop producers

-   NRCS lacks technical familiarity or expertise with specialty crop
    practices

-   Programs and cost share are not well-matched to specialty crop
    circumstances

-   Working with specialty crop producers is time-consuming and often
    complex, requiring new planning and evaluation

In short, there is insufficient capacity to deliver conservation
programs to specialty crop producers. As a result, specialty crop
producers, and other growers who are not familiar with conservation
programs, have very limited opportunities to participate.

**SOLUTIONS**

In general, the solutions to these endemic issues involve providing the
outreach, education, technical assistance and conservation planning
assistance that make participation in conservation programs possible.
Implementing the solutions will necessitate both leadership by the
Secretary and the implementation of specific steps that fundamentally
increase the capacity of NRCS to deliver conservation programs.

**Leadership** -- The Secretary should assess the current involvement of
specialty crops and develop a plan to improve access and participation
six months from enactment. The assessment should involve specialty crop
representatives with NRCS staff from states with substantial specialty
crop acreage. Once developed, the plan should be circulated for comment
and then implemented. The attention from USDA leadership would have
value in emphasizing the importance of work with specialty crop
producers.

**Outreach -** The Secretary could be directed to allocate a portion of
Conservation Innovation Grants in each state to provide outreach for
specialty crop producers on EQIP, providing information on procedures,
options, and basic conservation. Funds would be available to
universities or private organizations but would need to be coordinated
with existing specialty crop organizations.

**Technical Assistance --** There need to be more effective options for
technical assistance since the Technical Service Provider (TSP) option
is woefully ineffective for specialty crops. The Secretary needs to
establish sufficient technical assistance options, such as cooperative
agreements and partnerships with other agencies and private
organizations, to provide technical assistance. In addition, the
Secretary could increase the percentage of EQIP dollars that could be
allocated to technical assistance based on the prevalence or interest
among specialty crop producers in participating in EQIP. Those funds
would be designated for use with those growers.

**Education -** In the Research Title, Congress could establish a
Conservation Education Program designed to develop education programs at
the state level for Extension and University staff on the basics of
resource conservation and the conservation programs. That program would
then be delivered to specialty crop producers in conjunction with
outreach programs. Alternatively, education programs could be delivered
through Partnerships and Cooperative Agreements or through Conservation
Innovation Grants.

**Conservation planning --** Given the importance of conservation
planning to achieving resource benefits and the fact that most specialty
crop producers need conservation plans, sufficient funds need to be
available for Conservation Technical Assistance, as recommended by the
National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and others. In
addition, the Secretary could 1) allocate a specific amount of CTA
dollars to the development of conservation plans for specialty crop
producers; and 2) provide options for the development of plans for
specific practices ([e.g]{.underline}., pest management) as part of the
existing cost share payments under EQIP.

These measures would increase our capacity to deliver conservation
programs, thereby advancing resource conservation by a large and
progressive segment of agriculture and improving the equity in access to
conservation programs. In addition, these measures would have relevance
to other groups of farmers who have been underserved by conservation
programs including small and limited resource farmers, minority farmers,
and organic and beginning farmers.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership on these issues and for the
opportunity to testify before you today. I will be glad to answer
questions from you and members of the Subcommittee.