Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and State Sen. Gene Yaw talk with Matthew Stahlnecker, after a press conference announcing the first round of funding for the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP) on the farm in Lycoming County on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Lycoming County is receiving $1.9 million in ACAP funds based on a formula that considers number of farms, number of livestock operations, and number of impaired stream miles. The Stahlneckers plan to apply for the program to boost conservation measures on their beef farm.

Matthew and Samatha Stahlnecker raise beef cattle and grow alfalfa at their farm just north of Williamsport.

The couple recently hosted a visit by state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, who announced the department was releasing the first round of $154 million in funding under a new Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program.

Lycoming County is receiving $1.9 million in these funds based on a formula that considers number of farms, number of livestock operations, and number of impaired stream miles, according to a statement by state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, who joined the farmers and Redding on the farm tour.

The Stahlneckers said they plan to apply for the program to boost conservation measures on their farm.

“As young farmers, the Stahlneckers have demonstrated their care for the water and land,” Redding said. “It’s our goal to honor their stewardship, and the stewardship of other state farmers by investing ACAP funds in the future of their farm and the future of Pennsylvania.”

Yaw, who along with Sens. Scott Martin and Dan Laughlin, sponsored the Clean Streams Fund legislation, which created the ACAP program, noted the following regarding local farms and conservation measures:

“We are at a critical juncture in cleaning up Pennsylvania’s waters, and we are making progress,” Yaw said. “This important program provides a roadmap to meeting our goals of reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from our waterways.”

The state’s Clean Streams Fund was created with $220 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, and funds conservation programs including ACAP, designed to share the costs to farmers for farm management practices that reduce sediment in waterways, keeping the nutrients out of waterways, and on the farm to build soil health.

Funding will help provide site design and engineering support for measures like concrete barnyards, heavy-use area protection, manure storage, and expertise to institute agronomic or ecological practices like cover crops, planted streamside buffers, stream-bank fencing, and grazing systems – the best management practices, or “BMPs” proven to conserve water and soil resources and farm productivity.

ACAP funding, administered by the State Conservation Commission (SCC) is part of a coordinated package of state conservation initiatives, grants, loans and tax incentives that leverage the state’s long-standing partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Conservation Districts.

Funds must be committed by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.

In order to meet this aggressive timeline, the State Conservation Commission is partnering with Pennsylvania State University and USDA’s NRCS to create a technical assistance center that will provide necessary engineering and design support.

To apply or find detailed information on the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program, as well as more State Conservation Commission programs and investments in the future of Pennsylvania farms at agriculture.pa.gov.