2026 Agriculture Cost-Share Program

Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share (VACS) Program

Since 1984, the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share (VACS) Program has grown from a single BMP to over 60 today and has helped thousands of farmers implement practices aimed at keeping the state’s waterways clean.

Agricultural BMPs provide a long-term boost to an operation’s bottom line through increased productivity and reduced labor and input costs. A record $207 million in cost-share funds and an additional $31 million in technical assistance is available for fiscal year 2025.

VACS funds a portion of the cost to implement voluntary conservation practices on crop and livestock operations with a cap of $300,000 per farm, per year. BMPs include nutrient management planning, no-till, cover crops, conservation buffers, livestock stream exclusion practices and alternative watering systems for livestock.

Whole Farm Approach

The Whole Farm Approach is a holistic approach to conservation planning that allows farmers to submit just one cost-share application for their choice of nutrient management and cover crop practices, allowing for wider adoption of BMPs while greatly simplifying the application process. For FY 2025, $54 million is reserved for implementing the Whole Farm Approach.

Launched in 2022 as a pilot program to seven districts, the Whole Farm Approach has expanded to 18 districts across Virginia and allows farmers to take into account the entire acreage of their operation when developing conservation plans.

Participants in the Whole Farm Approach are exempt from the $300,000 annual VACS participant cap. It doesn’t prohibit farmers’ participation in other cost-share programs, allowing farmers to maximize savings and environmental benefits.

Conservation Planning

Conservation plans are tools to assist producers in making sound environmental decisions for their operations. In Virginia, farmers can contact their local soil and water conservation districts to partner with certified conservation planners to develop a conservation plan tailored to their specific land and operation. They provide a road map that identifies an operation’s objectives, existing concerns and opportunities, while outlining what the next steps are to reach their goals.

Nutrient Management

DCR’s Nutrient Management Program addresses nutrient applications to both urban landscapes and agricultural operations in nutrient management plans. Nutrients found in fertilizers, manure, biosolids and other nutrient sources are managed in ways that protect groundwater and surface water from excessive nutrient enrichment.

Nutrient Management Plans improve and protect water quality using best management practices such as timing, rate and placement of fertilizer, manure and biosolids for agricultural and urban purposes.

Chesapeake Bay Agriculture Voluntary Survey for Chesapeake Bay Farmers

We hope you will consider participating in this survey to help us learn more about voluntary conservation practices on Virginia farms in the Chesapeake Bay watershed! The information you provide will help Virginia tell the story of what farmers are doing to conserve soil, improve water quality, and is incredibly important to help Virginia agriculture achieve its 2028 water quality goals for the Chesapeake Bay.

This survey only applies to farms located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed region. To determine if your operation is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, please click on this link and follow the instructions: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9ca417d00aea48648010822372b899fa/. If you are not in the Chesapeake Bay watershed you do not need to complete the survey.

This survey was crafted over many months by members of Virginia’s Voluntary Agricultural Best Management Practices Task Force. Task force members worked closely together and include representatives from the: Virginia Agribusiness Council, Virginia Farm Bureau, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Virginia Department of Forestry, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Survey and Evaluation Research Lab, among other partners.

Your privacy is very important to us. When completing this survey please know that your responses will be protected and the ﬁnal survey results will never be associated with your name or location information. For more information about participant conﬁdentiality and what happens after the survey closes, please visit the frequently asked questions portion of the survey webpage located here: https://vaswcd.org/virginia-farm-voluntary-agricultural-bmp-inventory/ .

Please answer each question the best you know how. If you have any of the following documents it might help to have them nearby for reference purposes. If you don’t have these documents that is OK and you will still find the survey easy to complete:

BMP contracts
Nutrient Management Plan
USDA “Producer Farm Data Report”
Farm, tract, and ﬁeld acreage data (FSA maps)
Farm records on crops and fertilization, length of fence, length and width of buﬀers

The ﬁrst part of this survey asks basic questions about your farming operation(s). The rest of the survey asks whether you are practicing certain conservation practices in your farming operations, and then asks some additional questions about each practice. Some of the practices listed may not apply to your farming operation. If you do not utilize a practice, please answer “No” and continue to the next question. Throughout the survey, you will see references to the following acronyms, which we have spelled out below for your convenience:

DCR – Department of Conservation and Recreation
SWCD – Soil and Water Conservation Districts
NRCS – Natural Resources Conservation Service

If you need help completing the survey please contact your Chesapeake or Virginia Beach Extension oﬃce or Virginia Dare Soil and Water Conservation District oﬃce. You can leave the survey at any time and come back with the same link on the same device to complete the survey. Please note that after two weeks of no activity the survey will be marked as “incomplete” and you will have to start your entry from the beginning. We sincerely appreciate your time and eﬀort with this survey and the hard work you do every day to be stewards of the land and provide Virginians and others with a safe and stable food supply.

Sincerely, Virginia’s Voluntary Agricultural Best Management Practices Task Force

Contact our Conservation Specialist; Cory Hoar at choar@vbgov.com if you need assistance with the survey or you would like to find out more information.