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Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) - Farm Bill 2008

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary program that encourages agricultural producers to improve conservation systems by improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities and undertaking additional conservation activities. The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers this program and provides financial and technical assistance to eligible producers. CSP is available on Tribal and private agricultural lands and non-industrial private forestland (NIPF) on a continuous application basis.

CSP Payments Types

CSP offers financial assistance to eligible participants through two possible types of payments:

Annual payment for installing and adopting additional activities; and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities.
     Conservation Activity List - 2009 (posted on National CSP Website)
     Conservation Activity List - 2010 (PDF; 39 KB) -- Document requires Acrobat Reader
     Conservation Activity List - 2011 (PDF; 98 KB) -- Document requires Acrobat Reader
     Conservation Activity List - 2012 (PDF; 93KB) -- Document requires Acrobat Reader
Supplemental payment for the adoption of resource-conserving crop rotations. --Documents require Acrobat Reader
     RCCR 2009 (PDF; 167 KB)
     RCCR 2010 (PDF; 204 KB)
     RCCR 2011 (PDF; 113 KB)
     RCCR 2012 (PDF; 51 KB)

Payments will be made for conservation performance payments points estimated for each agricultural operation by the Conservation Measurement Tool (CMT). Conservation performance points are unique for each agricultural operation and will be based on existing and proposed conservation activities.

Contracts cover the eligible land in the entire agricultural operation and are for five years. For all contracts entered into, CSP payments to a person or legal entity may not exceed $40,000 in any fiscal year, and $200,000 during any five-year period. Each CSP contract will be limited to $200,000 over the term of the initial contract period.

National CSP Website Information

Additional CSP information, including the following, can be found on NRCS' National CSP Website

Conservation Measurement Tool Questions
CSP Background Information/Presentations
CSP Fact Sheet
CSP Self-Screening Checklist
National Job Sheets

Indiana's 2009-2012 CSP Priority Resource Concerns (statewide geographic area)

AGRICULTURE                          NON-INDUSTRIAL PRIVATE FORESTLAND (NIPF)

Soil Erosion                                Soil Erosion

Soil Quality                                Water Quality

Water Quality                             Animals

Animals                                     Plants

Enhancement Activity Job Sheets

"Enhancement" means a type of conservation activity used to treat natural resources and improve conservation performance. Enhancements are installed at a level of management intensity that exceeds the sustainable level for a given resource concern. Those directly related to a practice standard are applied in a manner that exceeds the minimum treatment requirements of the standard. Click on the topics below for national enhancement activity job sheets with Indiana supplements when applicable.

2009	2010	2011	2012
Air Quality	Air Quality	Air Quality	Air Quality
Animal	Animal	Animal	Animals
Energy	Energy	Energy	Energy
Plant	Plant	Plant	Plant
Soil Erosion	Soil Erosion	Soil Erosion	Soil Erosion
Soil Quality	Soil Quality	Soil Quality	Soil Quality
Special Projects	Special Projects	Special Projects	Special Projects
Water Quality	Water Quality	Water Quality	Water Quality
Water Quantity	Water Quantity	Water Quantity	Water Quantity
	Bundles	Bundles (NEW)	Bundles

Supplemental Information

2010/2011/2012 CSP Wildlife Plant Species (DOC; 330 KB) Document requires Microsoft Word
CSP's Contribution to Organic Transitioning (PDF; 45 KB) Document requires Acrobat Reader

How to Apply for CSP

To learn more about how to apply for CSP, please visit NRCS' National CSP website

Contact Information

For program information, please contact your local district conservationist at the nearest USDA Service Center. For national CSP information, visit the NRCS Web site.

For further assistance, contact MaryJo Woodruff at: (317) 295-5811

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