Glossary

Annual Payment

A payment received every year by the CSP contract holder. It is calculated by using the following simple formula: Land Use Acres x Performance Payment Points x Payment Rate.

Beginning Farmer

NRCS defines a Beginning Farmer as someone who has not operated a farm or ranch, or who has operated a farm or ranch for not more than 10 consecutive years and have a substantial role in the operation of the land. If you meet this criterion, you may be eligible to complete for a special pool of funding set aside for Beginning Farmers.

Conservation District

Conservation districts are entities that provide technical assistance and protect land and water throughout the Commonwealth. In Pennsylvania, every County has a Conservation District (except Philadelphia). Conservation Districts are important partners for NRCS in Pennsylvania. Depending on the County you live in, they could assist NRCS with a wide variety of tasks including assisting with CSP promotion or implementation.

Conservation Enhancement

Conservation activities selected by producers that are used to treat natural resources and improve conservation performance. Simply put, enhancements are a series of stewardship activities that goes beyond implementing a standard practice. A comprehensive list of enhancements can be found here. A detailed listing of job sheets for each CSP enhancements can be found here on the national NRCS website.

Conservation Measurement Tool (CMT)

A program that NRCS staff will use to rank your application during the interview process. The practices and enhancement you choose to implement will be plugged into the CMT and the tool will output a ranking and estimated annual payment rate. At this time the CMT is not available online for landowners to preview, but that may change in the future. It will be posted on the Pennsylvania NRCS CSP website if it becomes available.

CSP

Conservation Stewardship Program. The previous version of this program was called the Conservation Security Program, also known as “CSP.”

EQIP

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is an incentive program which provides financial assistance to landowners who have ongoing resource concerns that they agree to address. EQIP offers contracts that provide incentive payments and cost sharing for conservation practices, such as manure management systems, pest management, erosion control, and other practices to improve and maintain the health of natural resources. Commonly, this funding source secured by landowners after an NRCS Conservationist has visited the farm or land and has written a conservation plan that ties into the EQIP contract. Those landowners that do not qualify for CSP because of existing resource concerns such as soil erosion that are not being addressed may be interested in looking into EQIP to help with financing necessary conservation work.

FSA

Farm Service Agency is an agency of the USDA. NRCS uses FSA records to determine a landowner’s eligibly to enroll in CSP. If you have never registered your land with FSA, or if anything has changed with your operation since you last completed you records with FSA, you should make it a priority to contact your County’s office to make an appointment and stop in. if your FSA records are complete and up to date it will make the CSP enrollment process much faster and easier. Contact information for your local FSA office can be found here.

Interview

A meeting between a landowner and NRCS Conservationist in which discussions occur to determine what conservation activities are already being carried out on the land and decisions will be made regarding what future activities will be carried out to fulfill a CSP contract.

Limited Resource Farmer or Rancher

A Limited Resource Farmer or Rancher or Forest Owner is an applicant: With direct or indirect gross farm sales not more than the current indexed value in each of the previous 2 years and who has a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four, or less than 50 percent of county median household income in each of the previous 2 years. Complete the questions on this website to determine if you qualify.

NRCS

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers. NRCS is the agency that administers the CSP program and many other technical and financial assistance programs for private landowners and farmers.

Points

Each question you answer in the Conservation Measurement Tool has a point value associated with it and results in the points you get. Conservation Practices and Enhancements have point values attached to them. When you discuss the conservation activities you wish to pursue in your CSP contract, each practice you add will also add a certain number of points to your application. The higher the number of points your application has, the better chance you have of getting offered a contract. In addition, higher point values generally mean that the dollar value of your contract will also be higher for existing practices.

Practice

A practice is a land management activity that yields a conservation result. Conservation practices are used in CSP for the purpose of encouraging producers to meet additional stewardship thresholds. During the application process, an applicant may identify resource concern stewardship thresholds by land use that they are not meeting with existing activities, and agree to meet them by installing new conservation practices. The new conservation practices that need to be installed will be identified by NRCS during the application process. During on-site field verification for approved applicants, NRCS will determine the required practices using the conservation planning process. A comprehensive list of practices can be found here starting on page 4. Not every applicant will be eligible for every practice.

Priority Resource Concerns

Each state has chosen the resource concerns most relevant to the state. These resource concerns can be statewide, or broken down into regions as best determined by each state. Priority resource concerns for Pennsylvania can be found at the Pennsylvania NRCS CSP website.

Socially Disadvantaged Farmer

A socially disadvantaged group is a group whose members have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group, without regard to their individual qualities. These groups consist of the following: American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians, Blacks or African Americans, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders and Hispanics. If you meet this criterion, you may be eligible to complete for a special pool of funding set aside for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers.

Stewardship Threshold

Each resource concern carries with it a stewardship threshold. A Stewardship Threshold is best described as the level in which a resource concern is no longer a problem due to the past management techniques or practices planned.

Supplemental Payment

A payment in addition to the annual payment for agreeing to implement a Resource Conserving Crop Rotation. See Enhancement Resource Conservation Crop Rotation for more information.