Analysis of USDA’s Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (RAI)

In December 2025, USDA announced the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (RAI), positioning it as a significant new investment in regenerative agriculture at a moment of major transition for federal conservation funding. The RAI is not a new program but instead a repackaging of existing USDA conservation programs, EQIP and CSP. Nor does it designate new funding towards either of these programs and the practices they target.