PA’s Chesapeake Bay Producers & the Farm Bill’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program

In 2019, a number of changes are underway to enhance the delivery of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) under the new 2018 Farm Bill.  As the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service develops new rules for RCPP, this discussion will examine how the first generation of RCPP (under the 2014 Farm Bill) impacted farms and the technical assistance providers working with them. Under the former farm bill, and beginning in 2014, Chesapeake Bay partners eagerly sought to accelerate and improve conservation delivery by tapping RCPP to help farms put practices in place to decrease the loss of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment to the environment.  Non-governmental organizations, research institutions, conservation districts, private sector, and others, had great hopes for how the program could bring additional EQIP dollars and technical assistance to Pennsylvania’s producers to advance conservation and support the restoration goals for the Chesapeake Bay. An RCPP titled “Comprehensive Watershed Conservation in Dairy and Livestock Landscapes of the Chesapeake Bay” sponsored by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and carried out through its conservation partners, deployed RCPP across three states including priority areas of Bradford-, Juniata-, and Lancaster counties in Pennsylvania.   The approach and partnership with the producers and the outcomes were geography specific.  The framework for producer choices for conservation programs, the technical assistance approach of the partners, and the melding of cost share and incentives for the physical implementation of best management practices focused on water quality outcomes will be explored. About the Speaker: Kristen Saacke Blunk, principal, Headwaters LLC, serves as a field liaison to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for its Chesapeake Bay Stewardship- and Delaware River Restoration programs.  Prior to the launch of Headwaters LLC in 2012, Kristen directed the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center, an Extension-based initiative devoted to promoting science, policy, and partnerships to solve problems and resolve environmental challenges for working lands. Kristen has a BS in biology from Virginia Tech and masters of forest resources in fisheries and wildlife sciences from Penn State. Her primary focus includes field-savvy project development and assessment, strategic planning for environmental restoration, and facilitation of collaborative partnership-led water quality-, habitat, and watershed management that authentically engages the public-, private-, and NGO sectors. She is an at-large member of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Agriculture Workgroup and serves on the Administrative Council for USDA Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE) and is on the board of directors for Sustainable Chesapeake. A native of Pennsylvania, Kristen relocated to Virginia, where Headwaters continues to serve the Mid-Atlantic region.