The Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) was a United States government program administered by the

Farm Service Agency The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is the United States Department of Agriculture agency that was formed by merging the farm loan portfolio and staff of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service ...

. It was the first conservation cost-sharing program, established by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1936 in the

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act , enacted February 29, 1936) is a United States federal law that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to conserve soil and prevent erosion. Legislative history The Act ...

. The ACP and paid farmers up to $3,500 per year as an incentive to install approved practices for

soil conservation Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topmost layer of the soil from erosion or prevention of reduced fertility caused by over usage, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination. Slash-and-burn and other un ...

and to protect

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through ...

. The ACP was terminated in the

1996 farm bill The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies ...

and replaced by a new

Environmental Quality Incentives Program The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a United States government program designed to assist farmers in improving environmental quality, particularly water quality and soil conservation. Congress established the program in the 1996 ...

(EQIP).United States. Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. Approved April 4, 1996.

References

* {{Agriculture-stub Agricultural soil science New Deal United States Department of Agriculture programs Water conservation Water pollution in the United States