Northeast Conservationists Highlight Partnerships in Anticipation of 2008 Farm Bill

August 11, 2008

Representatives from nine states gathered in Portsmouth, NH last week for the annual National Association of Conservation Districts’ Northeast Region Meeting. Hosted by the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts, the three-day event emphasized emerging practices for energy conservation, innovative approaches to building partnerships, and successful conservation projects in the region.

Close cooperation among conservation districts and environmental agencies emerged as a key factor for success of the 2008 Farm Bill, which strongly emphasizes conservation and is in the final stages of rule-making.

In her keynote speech, Lorraine Merrill, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food addressed the decline of high volume, low-cost mega food systems and New Hampshire’s unique position to meet the corresponding popularity of local consumption habits.

“New Hampshire farming is already a model for sustainable agriculture, with small-to medium sized farms growing diverse crops that foster stewardship of both natural and human resources,” Commissioner Merrill stated. “We must work together to reclaim, reconstruct, and develop the systems and markets necessary to offer local foods.”

Citing high rates of obesity and rising energy costs in the U.S. as chief factors in the shift to eat local, the Commissioner called on conservation professionals to take advantage of the opportunities to be part of the solution. These opportunities include a collective focus to save farmland; uniting dairy farms in the Northeast, an industry integral to the region’s economy; increasing education for young farmers; and building financial and technical assistance.

For 60 years the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has risen to the occasion, working in a close partnership with Conservation Districts to provide the technical guidelines and federal funding needed to put more conservation on the land.

“NRCS has the scientific and technical expertise to help districts achieve their goal of increasing voluntary conservation practices among farmers,” NRCS New Hampshire State Conservationist George W. Cleek IV said in his welcoming remarks. “Without this partnership, conservation would not be the force it is today.”

A collaborative approach to conservation is at the heart of each Conservation District as they have the exceptional ability to coordinate technical and financial assistance from all available sources—public, private, local, state, and federal. The cooperative nature necessary to conservation work was apparent at the meeting, with representatives from the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, the University of New Hampshire, the Upper Valley Land Trust, New Hampshire Department of Environmental services, and the Great Bay National Estuarine Reserve representing this collaboration in New Hampshire.

< Back to News...