Agricultural conservation technical assistance has taken on a number of dimensions over its long and continuously evolving history. Congress continues to take interest in conservation technical assistance given its complexities and impact on the distribution of conservation financial assistance to producers. Frequently, technical assistance for agriculture is discussed in the context of omnibus farm legislation (referred to as farm bills), although most technical assistance is discretionary and funded through the annual agricultural appropriations bill rather than mandatory spending authorized in the farm bill. Questions concerning the current and future capacity of the technical assistance system are highlighted by a perceived lack of boundaries and understanding of what technical assistance is and is not. One challenge for Congress lies in finding an acceptable balance between how much technical assistance capacity currently exists and how much is needed to meet demand. In the search for this balance many policy questions arise regarding what technical assistance is and does, especially in the areas of funding and implementation. This report does not attempt to directly answer these questions, but rather provides a framework for the debate. This report describes the past progressions that made conservation technical assistance what it is today, and also poses questions on where it might be headed in the future. Throughout this report, conservation technical assistance refers to conservation as applied to activities on or affecting agricultural lands. In the most general terms, technical assistance is a technical service. It is a basic service that provides conservation knowledge to producers and landowners. It includes information, technical expertise (e.g., engineering, biological, etc. ), and a delivery system for assisting landowners and users to conserve and use natural resources. In broader terms it involves outreach, education, and training in practices and technological advances that create compatibility between production and the land. Perceptions of technical assistance vary by region, land use type, accessibility, and individual stewardship. Technical assistance is considered by some to be science-based and therefore subject to the continuous progression of advances in the field. By this definition, inflexibility and static change is undesirable. Others view conservation technical assistance as limited to preparing a conservation plan. The scientific underpinnings add to the stability of the plan; however, without additional follow-through this definition remains narrow, implying that technical assistance is just a plan, and nothing more. Increasingly, this service is not only provided through the federal government by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), but also by other public and private experts. NRCS is the current federal provider of technical assistance for agriculture conservation. The statutory authority to provide conservation technical assistance is derived from the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1935 (P.L. 74-46; 16 U.S.C. §590 et seq.). NRCS provides technical assistance at the request of the landowner to conserve and improve natural resources. It includes technical expertise combined with knowledge of local conditions and is provided through a network of federal staff located throughout the United States. Although the 1935 act provided authority for technical assistance it was not until an amendment under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 farm bill, P.L. 110-246 ) that conservation technical assistance was defined in statute. Through this amendment, technical assistance is currently defined by law as: "(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— "(A) IN GENERAL.—The term 'technical assistance' means technical expertise, information, and tools necessary for the conservation of natural resources on land active in agricultural, forestry, or related uses. "(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term 'technical assistance' includes— "(i) technical services provided directly to farmers, ranchers, and other eligible entities, such as conservation planning, technical consultation, and assistance with design and implementation of conservation practices; and "(ii) technical infrastructure, including activities, processes, tools, and agency functions needed to support delivery of technical services, such as technical standards, resource inventories, training, data, technology, monitoring, and effects analyses." Technical assistance is funded through virtually every USDA mandatory and discretionary conservation program. Most of the funding for technical assistance is provided through discretionary conservation programs. Discretionary programs are permanently authorized and receive funding through the annual appropriations process. Mandatory funding for certain conservation programs is currently authorized primarily under the 2008 farm bill, and provided through the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Funding for mandatory conservation programs is provided at the level authorized in law unless limited to a smaller amount during the appropriations process. Mandatory funding for conservation technical assistance often supports financial assistance to producers who provide specified forms of conservation. Authorizing legislation for mandatory programs does not set specific spending levels for technical assistance. Funding allocated to technical assistance in mandatory programs is determined by the Administration, not through appropriation or authorization. Conservation Operations (CO) is the largest discretionary account, and also provides the greatest amount of technical assistance through the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program. CTA provides technical support, conservation planning, and implementation assistance through local field offices in almost every county in the United States (and territories). CTA also funds many of NRCS's collaborative research and data collection projects, such as the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI), which tracks natural resource conditions and trends on non-federal land in the United States. CTA also funds compliance status reviews under highly erodible cropland compliance and wetlands compliance provisions and was funded at close to $756 million in FY2010 ( Figure 1 ). The second-largest activity conducted under CO is the Soil Survey program, which maintains an inventory of the soil resources on all U.S. land. This information is publically available and is utilized by not only agricultural interests but increasingly by developers and planners, as well as the transportation industry. Scientists are using soil survey information in studying climate change and evaluating the environmental impacts of land use and management practices. Other discretionary programs include four watershed programs (Watershed Surveys & Planning, Watershed & Flood Prevention Operations, Watershed Rehabilitation, and Emergency Watershed Protection) that provide technical assistance using various approaches to watershed planning, local coordination efforts, and flood prevention structures. Most watershed program funding is provided as financial assistance through contracts with local partners. The watershed programs were largely created in the 1940s and 1950s in response to flood control and water quantity concerns. Reduced appropriations and an increasing number of congressional earmarks have reduced program support within recent administrations. Congress, however, continues to fund many of these programs through annual appropriations. The Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Program is another discretionary program that establishes or improves coordination systems in rural areas for the development and utilization of natural resources. Funding for the RC&D program largely provides staff support for local RC&D councils across the United States. Very little, if any, financial assistance is provided though this program. Unlike discretionary programs, mandatory programs derive their funding authority from legislation that specifies an annual amount, unless reduced in the appropriations process. Authorizing legislation for mandatory programs does not set specific spending levels for technical assistance. Funding allocated to technical assistance in mandatory programs is determined by the Administration, not through appropriations. Conservation program advocates prefer mandatory funding to discretionary because supporters believe that it is easier to protect mandatory funding levels than it is to protect spending subject to annual appropriations. Discretionary funding for agriculture conservation technical assistance has remained relatively constant in recent years compared to mandatory funding, which continues to increase. The 2008 farm bill provided much of this increase in mandatory conservation funding and continues to shift NRCS staff from technical assistance funded though discretionary programs to those funded through mandatory programs. Despite this shift, discretionary funding still remains the larger source of technical assistance funding ( Figure 2 ). Most technical assistance activities within mandatory programs are in support of delivering some level of financial assistance as part of a contract or agreement. These activities could include providing designs, standards, and specifications needed to install scheduled conservation practices and activities. According to NRCS policy, all technical assistance prior to a producer entering into a contract for financial assistance is considered to be part of CTA. It is not until after a producer signs a contract for financial assistance, that technical assistance is funded from the individual mandatory program rather than CTA. Once the contract is completed—defined as one year after the last conservation practice or activity is implemented—mandatory program funds are no longer available to support ongoing assistance in maintaining the conservation plans, practices, and activities implemented under the financial assistance program. If these activities continued to receive technical assistance it would be through CTA. One exception is that mandatory program funding my still be used to follow up on easements, which create an ongoing obligation for management and monitoring. Section 2701 of the 2002 farm bill stated that the Secretary shall provide technical assistance to eligible producers either directly (through NRCS) or through approved third party providers. In late 2002, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) determined that technical assistance funding for mandatory programs was limited by a cap established in Section 11 (15 U.S.C. 714i) of the CCC Charter Act and enacted in the 1996 farm bill. In the mid-1990s, the Farm Service Agency (FSA), which manages the operations of the farm commodity support programs, began to utilize CCC funding for large computer expenditures. These purchases were met with criticism for being too expensive and outdated. An amendment to the CCC Charter Act was made in the 1996 farm bill that limited the amount of funds that could be transferred for reimbursement of administrative expenses, referred to as the "Section 11 cap." The 1996 amended language states that "the total amount of all allotments and fund transfers from the Corporation under this section (including allotments and transfers for automated data processing or information resource management activities) for a fiscal year may not exceed the total amount of the allotments and transfers made under this section in the fiscal year 1995."