By Shelby Shank
Field Editor

Texas farmers, ranchers and landowners have a new opportunity to invest in soil health and productivity on their operations through the Texas Conservation & Sustainability Initiative (TCSI).

“The Texas Conservation and Sustainability Initiative seeks to do three things and that’s to help producers adopt conservation practices, assess which practices work best across regions and commodities and create long-term value for products grown using those practices,” said Dr. Julie Howe, Texas A&M University soil chemistry and fertility professor.

The initiative is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and led by Texas A&M AgriLife Research. It provides financial incentives to help farmers and ranchers adopt conservation practices that improve soil health on working lands.

Through TCSI, eligible producers can receive financial incentives of up to $100,000 to implement practices that improve soil, water and overall land health.

The program is open to a wide range of operations, including pasture and livestock grazing systems, row crops, forestry and confined animal operations.

Practices vary by operation but may include cover cropping, nutrient and irrigation management, no-till planting and edge-of-field improvements like windbreaks. Foresters may implement tree and shrub establishment or forest stand improvement, and ranchers can use practices such as prescribed grazing, feed amendments and pasture or rangeland reestablishment.

“This is a great opportunity for farmers, ranchers and landowners to test these practices with very little risk,” Howe said. “It gives producers a chance to try something new without taking on the full financial burden themselves.”

To qualify, applicants must operate working lands within Texas, have a Farm Service Agency farm number and not already be receiving funding for the same conservation practices.

Selected participants will work with an implementation planner and undergo an environmental assessment evaluation before beginning the projects.

Additional details are available at tcsi.tamu.edu.

For more information or questions about the program, contact Howe at j-howe@tamu.edu or 979-321-5904.