The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has released their final Conservation Stewardship Program rule. The Farmers Union says improvements need to be made for it to be effective and benefit producers as well as the environment. Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen says the government needs to focus on a longer term policy.

He says NRCS did a good job of including soil health as a priority in their final rule.

Hansen says farmers and ranchers have done a good job with their conservation practices but in order to enhance those need government incentive payments to help them afford those improvements.

Both Hansen and National Farmers Union President Rob Larew say the agency should provide more specifics about how CSP will help producers build soil health to sequester atmospheric carbon, increase yields and prevent erosion.