LUBBOCK, Texas (RFD-TV News) — USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is expanding its Regenerative Pilot Program to $1 billion for fiscal 2027, giving farmers, ranchers and private landowners more conservation funding and greater flexibility.
Chief Colton Buckley told All Ag News the program carried a $700 million baseline in fiscal 2026 but ultimately contracted $860 million with more than 5,000 producers. Funding flows through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program.
Buckley says the next version will rely more heavily on state-level decisions instead of a fixed national list of practices. State conservationists and technical advisory committees will help determine which practices fit local production and resource concerns.
Prescribed grazing, cover crops and nutrient management led participation during fiscal 2026. Producers also used whole-farm planning, soil health testing and roughly five-year contracts that end with an outcomes report documenting changes on participating land.
Buckley says applications remain available on a rolling basis, with multiple funding rounds set by individual states during the year.
