NRCS DC Talking Points November 2009 Local Food and Agriculture Council (FAC) NRCS District Conservationists will continue to chair the local FAC through December 31, 2009.  FSA County Executive Directors will begin their term as FAC chair January 1, 2010.  Districts are encouraged to work with their District Conservationist to participate in their FAC meetings. Local Workgroups As the 2010 NRCS program year approaches Local Workgroups will be asked to convene to discuss county priority resource concerns.  SWCDs are directed by legislative statue to lead these workgroups so all resource concerns are identified and prioritized.  More information and guidance will be coming soon.  2010 Service Center Rent NRCS is planning to handle 2010 space reimbursement (rent) using the same process as last year.  The current space reimbursement agreements are through December 2009.  We are working on agreements for calendar year 2010. Contribution Agreements Thank you to all the SWCDs that offered NRCS assistance through the 2009 Contribution Agreements.  We received 39 SWCD agreement proposals and entered into 21 agreements.  NRCS intends to support these types of agreements again for FY2010.  Please inventory your workload now for 2010 in order to be prepared when NRCS is able to enter into these agreements.     Support for Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) NRCS fully supports the CCSI efforts undertaken by the IASWCD and the State Soil Conservation Board.  We encourage Districts to utilize this program to assist their producers in adopting a productive cropping system. Partnering to Implement Conservation Practices Last year the Conservation Implementation Teams assisted with putting over 39,000 practices on the land.  There are already almost 23,300 practices scheduled to be installed for FY2010!  NRCS thanks the SWCDs for supporting the CIT structure that allows so much conservation to go on the land.  NRCS also appreciates anything the SWCDs can do to support local technicians to assist with this workload.