On a recent conservation tour with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Senator Tom Carper (D-Del) posed the question to landowners, ‘What is it that you think we, the Federal people here, should know?’  At the first tour site, family farmer Helen Armstrong responded, “Without the federal program, we could not have done this.  You want to do this and that, but sometimes the money just runs out. NRCS really helps out.”

The ‘helping out’ that Armstrong is referring to is the thousands of dollars of assistance that NRCS and the conservation district have provided to help the family cost-share conservation practices to benefit their beef and sheep operation.  The Armstrongs have installed a manure structure for proper animal waste storage, roof gutters to control runoff, planted warm season grasses to improve wildlife habitat and more.

The Armstrong's beef and sheep farm was just one of four sites on a statewide conservation tour designed to help Federal legislators see first-hand the benefits of NRCS conservation practices to private landowners in Delaware.  Tour participants included Senator Tom Carper along with representatives from the offices of Senator Joe Biden (D-Del), Congressman Mike Castle (R-Del) and the conservation districts.

Participants also visited a dairy farm, a beginning farmer’s poultry operation and a wildlife/wetland restoration project.  Throughout the tour, participants listened as farmers discussed the benefits of NRCS’ technical and financial assistance.  The practices installed on the operations help Delaware landowners to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, store manure properly, reduce excess nutrients and more.

“In addition to technical assistance and conservation planning, our cost-share programs have had a huge impact on Delaware's landowners," said Delaware NRCS State Conservationist Russell Morgan. "And I expect these benefits to continue and expand with the new 2008 Farm Bill."

After touring a dairy farm and seeing the positive impact of the conservation practices, Senator Carper said, ‘There are a number of farms who have undergone this transformation. We’re going to do more of this, we’re going to do a lot more of this.”