Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding visited a Lycoming County farm to announce the first allocation of funds under the new, $154 million Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program.
Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Fund was created with $220 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act; and funds conservation programs, including the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program, designed to share the costs to farmers for farm management practices that reduce sediment in waterways — keeping the nutrients out of waterways and on the farm to build soil health. The Growing Greener Coalition was involved for advocating for this and other ARPA-related allocations during the 2022 budget talks.
Funding will help provide site design and engineering support for measures like concrete barnyards, heavy-use area protection, manure storage, and expertise to institute agronomic or ecological practices like cover crops, planted streamside buffers, stream-bank fencing, and grazing systems.
