VIEWPOINT | When conservation funding dries up, so does rural progress

Guest column by Grady Heitmann, Faulk County farmer

For over 30 years, I helped South Dakota producers implement conservation practices as a District Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Now, as a full-time rancher running a 200 cow-calf operation alongside corn and soybean crops with my son, I see both sides of conservation’s crucial role and what happens when loss of staff and delayed payments threaten them.

We have been hearing about United States Department of Agriculture staff cuts and office closures that could impact the help we get from NRCS, and when the government shutdown began a few weeks ago, we got a preview of what the impact could be as producers in my area who had completed large conservation water projects for livestock were told their cost-share reimbursements would arrive in the new fiscal year.

Those checks never came.

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