WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris Administration today announced that it made record investments in private lands conservation in fiscal year 2023 thanks to historic resources made available by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action in history and a key pillar of the Investing in America agenda. In fiscal year 2023, USDA supported more than 45,000 conservation contracts, more than any year in the 89-year history of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), totaling over $2.8 billion in financial assistance to producers for conservation efforts. NRCS also released updated state-by-state data showing where investments went in FY2023 for resources provided under both the Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act.
“The successes of our first year of implementing the Inflation Reduction Act has set us up well for moving forward in 2024 and beyond,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “Thanks to the President’s Investing in America agenda, NRCS increased the agency’s capacity, streamlined our programs and processes, built partnerships, and expanded opportunities to access new conservation funding while continuing to provide America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners with conservation assistance through the Farm Bill. It’s clear that we’ve done that successfully this past year, and producer demand for this assistance remains strong.”