State Conservationist's Corner

A fresh start

by Christine S. Clarke

In this, my first "State Conservationist's Corner," I'd like to start by saying how pleased I am to have a chance to serve the citizens of Massachusetts and to work with the talented NRCS Massachusetts staff. As a native Rhode Islander, it's great to be back in New England and I'm ready to make a fresh start as State Conservationist in the Bay State.

I realize that I've taken this position at a time of great challenges. Local farmers continue to face enormous pressure from the development, economic and natural resource concerns that come with operating a small family farm in an urbanized state. Within NRCS, we are facing another tight budget this fiscal year and are currently working on deficit reduction measures.

Despite the belt tightening, we still need to implement millions of dollars in Farm Bill program financial assistance. And, our national leadership and the American people demand that we demonstrate the effectiveness of our performance at the state level, and rightly so.

These challenges are interrelated and affect our efforts to get conservation on the ground. That's why we must rely on the cooperation of and coordination with our federal, state and local partners to get the job done.

Now a new Farm Bill is on the horizon, which will surely present changes and new opportunities for conservation. I'm sure you're keenly interested in how the 2007 Farm Bill will affect Massachusetts and the rest of New England. If you'd like to stay up to date on Secretary Johann's 2007 Farm Bill proposals, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

In the spirit of Cooperative Conservation, I look forward to working with you and all our partners, employees and customers in the coming year. Feel free to contact me any time with ideas on how we can work together to meet our common conservation goals.

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