A farm conservation plan is a farmer's E&S Plan, which is necessary to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania's Clean Streams Law. The BMPs incorporated into a conservation plan reduce soil loss to a level where soil productivity is maintained. A Conservation Catalog for Pennsylvania features soil-saving agricultural BMPs for the conservation of Pennsylvania's natural resources, such as contour farming, contour strip-cropping, cover crops, grassed waterways and other common farming practices. Click here to view A Conservation Catalog for Pennsylvania as an Adobe pdf file.

The conservation plan also includes computations to show that stormwater runoff from the farm for a 10-year frequency storm (one which produces about 2.9 inches of rain over a 24 hour period) will not cause erosion or deposit sediment into local streams or other water bodies. The conservation plan should be available at the farm at all times to guide the persons responsible for overall farm operations. If major changes occur in tillage operations, the conservation plan is updated.

Farmers also need a conservation plan consisting of a plan map, a soils map, and a narrative. The plan map shows the farm boundaries, field boundaries, use of each field, acres in each field, and permanent conservation measures installed and/or planned. The soils map indicates the kinds and boundaries of soils. The plan narrative includes names, units and amounts, and locations of each of the conservation practices being used.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and the District cooperate to provide technical services in developing farm conservation plans. DCCD has combined efforts with NRCS staff to complete 235 conservation plans for Dauphin County farms since July 2003.