MINNEAPOLIS – Between 2017 and 2024, U.S. taxpayers funded over $31 billion in federal conservation program assistance for farmers and landowners, according to the Environmental Working Group’s newly updated Conservation Database. The money paid for efforts to protect the environment, climate and public health.
The database allows viewers to see where billions of dollars in Agriculture Department conservation funding have gone. The data, broken down by county for most programs, show the funding has helped farmers across the country adopt conservation practices. But too often, there is not enough money and it is spread too thinly to counter agriculture’s harm to water, air, land and the climate.
Despite the billions spent on conservation efforts between 2017 and 2024, the nation is still plagued by contaminated drinking and recreational water. And agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions may soon become one of the top sources of U.S. emissions. The agriculture industry also remains a leading source of water pollution.
EWG’s database provides information on funding for five USDA conservation programs:
- Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
- Conservation Stewardship Program
- Conservation Reserve Program
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program
- Regional Conservation Partnership Program
Data for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program came from previous Freedom of Information Act requests EWG filed with the USDA and include data from 2017 through 2022 only. The data for the last four programs on this list came from USDA websites, and the data are from 2017 through 2024.
The data confirm more must be done to help farms reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide, and to become more resilient to climate-linked extreme weather.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, funds conservation practices like cover crops and grassed waterways, as well as structural, equipment and facility practices, such as irrigation infrastructure and manure lagoons. A considerable amount of EQIP funding has gone to farmers for structural practices without climate benefits that may even increase climate emissions.
For example, six of the 10 most highly compensated EQIP practices between 2017 and 2024 were structural. Farmers received $2.59 billion for them – a quarter of total EQIP funding. And many of the structural practices, such as fencing and livestock waste pipelines, do not have climate benefits.
“Farm conservation programs reduce agriculture’s pollution to water and air, decrease climate emissions from farming, improve farm resilience to extreme weather and help protect public health,” said Anne Schechinger, director of EWG’s Midwest program and an agricultural economist.
“But it’s vital to focus taxpayer dollars on getting the most effective practices in the right places to address the most urgent threats, like climate change,” she added.
Conservation funding should prioritize practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve climate resilience.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
