USDA and HHS Meld New Pilot Program for Farmers

USDA is launching a new pilot program worth up to $700 million to help more farmers adopt regenerative agriculture practices. It's part of the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda. USDA, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins,

“The pilot brings USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS, back to its core mission, helping people help the land through whole farm outcome-based voluntary conservation that our producers trust. Whole farm planning is the centerpiece, ensuring that all resource concerns such as soil, water and natural vitality are addressed together, not one piece at a time, producers will benefit from a single application, reducing red tape and making conservation easier to access and our programs more impactful. Each producer's results will be measured and credited back to the farmer through an outcomes report, recognizing and rewarding improvements they achieve on their own land.”

The initiative will draw $400 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and $300 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program, and will also tap into private funding. Rollins was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr, in making the announcement. Kennedy pointed out that the push for regenerative agriculture was a goal of the MaHA report released in September, as its focus is to make farmers less dependent on chemical and fertilizer inputs. The application process will be streamlined through EQIP or CSP.