USDA is Now Accepting Applications for The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)

Oct 01, 2025

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is now accepting applications for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). The deadline to be considered for Fiscal Year 2026 funding will be Oct. 31, 2025.

This program consists of two components: The Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) option and the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) option. The ALE assists conservation organizations in preventing the conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses and maximizes the protection of land devoted to food production. The WRE option restores, protects, and enhances enrolled wetlands and improves wildlife habitat. Eligible WRE lands include farmed or prior-converted wetlands that can be successfully and cost-effectively restored.

"It is imperative we educate and promote ACEP to the landowners of Mississippi as we are proud to provide this service throughout the state," said State Conservationist Kurt Readus. "We invite any interested applicant to visit with us to learn more about the easement programs that we at USDA-NRCS can offer."

Source : usda.gov

Video: There’s a Whole Barn Buried Under This Field Now

There's old hog barns under that field now. The old hog barn site on the farm has been sitting there for decades, and this is the week it finally came out: concrete pad, burn pile, charred lumber, all of it loaded into a CAT 725C rock truck and buried in a pit we dug back in the timber.

Tork's been waiting his whole life to drive one of these, so he gets the keys to a 50,000 pound rock truck and I ride shotgun. The excavator loads, the dozer clears the timber, the drone shows the whole site from above, and by sundown there's nothing left of the old place but a smooth patch of dirt. It's a weird feeling erasing something that was here before either of us, but the farm has to keep moving.