Iowa farmers and landowners invested millions in conservation practices last year, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Through four major Farm Bill conservation programs offered in Iowa, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Iowa farmers contracted with NRCS to address natural resource concerns such as soil erosion and water quality on about 258,000 private land acres in fiscal year 2025 (FY25).

Overall, NRCS obligated $75.3 million in conservation practice funding to Iowa farmers in FY25 through 1,337 Farm Bill program contracts. Farmers and other USDA customers can sign up for Farm Bill conservation programs on a continuous basis, and most are funded through three- to five-year contracts. 

State Conservationist Jon Hubbert says Iowa farmers, contractors, agribusiness companies, and state and local government agencies should be congratulated for the work they accomplished alongside NRCS in 2025. “Iowa is unique in the way we partner with so many others to implement conservation plans, practices and programs,” he said. “It’s great to see the continued interest in conservation here in Iowa. Working together with Iowa landowners, we can help them meet their conservation goals.”

Program Breakdown 

ACEP: NRCS helps landowners, land trusts, and other entities protect, restore, and enhance wetlands, grasslands, and working farms through conservation easements. During FY25, NRCS obligated about $6.9 million through three new easements that will cover 523 acres. Included in ACEP funding is more than $1 million in stewardship activities on existing easements, which could include prescribed burns, tree removal, or controlling invasive species. There are 1,722 federally funded easements in Iowa across 197,000 acres. 

CSP: Through CSP, NRCS helps farmers build a customized plan to meet their conservation goals and needs. Iowa NRCS obligated $21 million through new and renewed CSP contracts during the past year to 320 landowners who signed five-year contracts, covering about 142,000 acres.

 EQIP: Iowa NRCS contracted about 43 percent of new federal conservation funding through EQIP – a voluntary program that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality, where farmers can choose from a conservation list developed at the county level to treat local resource issues. Through EQIP, NRCS obligated $32.2 million covering 65,658 acres through 467 contracts. 

Statewide EQIP highlights:

  • Through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), Iowa NRCS obligated more than $4.6 million, covering 15,840 acres through 50 new contracts. The goal of MRBI is for landowners to adopt practices that will minimize the contributions of nitrogen and phosphorus to surface waters within the Mississippi River basin.
  • Iowa NRCS obligated more than $5 million through 276 program contracts, covering about 10,500 acres, to fund wildlife habitat practices statewide. Some of the practices include conservation cover, brush management, tree/shrub establishment, wetland restoration, and wildlife habitat planting.
  • Through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), Iowa NRCS obligated nearly $1.5 million through 19 contracts covering 3,658 acres. Through NWQI, NRCS provides targeted funding to treat water quality problems in small watersheds. 

RCPP: Iowa NRCS provided more than $15 million to Iowans in 2025 through RCPP projects that will treat resource concerns on more than 50,000 acres. NRCS assisted producers through 13 partnership agreements and 547 contracts. For the four RCPP Alternative Funding Arrangement (AFA) projects, a conservation partner directed the project, taking the lead in conservation planning and contracting. 

Disaster Recovery: NRCS also helped several Iowa communities recover from recent flooding and damaging high winds through with assistance through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. NRCS funding exceeded $1.4 million to assist the Cities of Pleasant Hill, Johnston, and Spencer, and Polk and Webster Counties by helping with debris clearing and removal and stream bank protection. 

For more information, please visit nrcs.usda.gov or contact your local USDA Service Center. Detailed Iowa NRCS program results and information are available at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025At-A-Glance.pdf or https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/data-and-reports/rca-data-viewer.