tlnued to provide assistance to farmers in meeting the

tlnued to provide assistance to farmers in meeting the j need to conserve soil, water and woodland resources on j their farms and ranches.-; This program Recognizes that In nearly every community in the United States there are farms that have lagged from the standpoint of conservation of natural resources. Many of these farm* ers have never undertaken conservation measures on their farms, nor have they utilized other conservation services readily available to them through USD A. To assist in interesting these farmers in carrying out needed conservation practices, State, county and community committeemen were asked to encourage those who had not been doing conservation work' to undertake a needed conservation project in 1962, and to further acquaint' these farmers with the publicly provided resources available to them if needed. As a result of this effort, carried out by ASC committeemen on their own time and without pay for their services, more than 200,000 farmers who had not been carrying out conservation work filed requests for ACP assistance in initiating conservation projects this year. This increased interest, stimulated with no increase in appropriated funds, was by farmers who have not been taking part in the program. Total ACP assistance provided these and other participating farmers amounted to about $220 million. Since farmers who take part in the program must also invest their own money, time, labor, and equipment, the total investment in ACP cost-share practices amount ed to a least twice this amount, or $440 million. Another major accomplishment of the ACP of significance to both farmers and non-farmers was the inclusion in the 1962 program of authority to provide costshare payments for wildlife . conservation practices with soil and water conservation benefits. Although conservation activities carried out under previous programs provided many wildlife benefits, 1962 marked the first year when