Conservation division details Ag Water Optimization savings, asks to transfer restricted funds

Jim Boca, director of the Conservation Division at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, presented program metrics and funding requests for a suite of conservation programs.

Boca demonstrated a new Ag Water Optimization dashboard showing 689 projects funded with 337 completed and reported approximately $149 million obligated toward projects. He said annual reports from completed projects indicate more than 100,000 acre‑feet of diversion savings to date. Boca described a proposed transfer of roughly $34,500,000 from a restricted account into the AG Water Optimization account to continue funding projects, explaining that the request is not for new funding but for account reallocation to sustain implementation.

He also reviewed the AGVIP voluntary incentives and soil health work: AGVIP has enrolled over 150,000 acres and certified nutrient management plans for 203 producers; Boca said the division requested a $2,000,000 building block to sustain AGVIP for another two to three years. On land conservation, he said the Leary McAllister fund has contributed about $7.3M toward easements and helped preserve roughly 15,000 acres of productive farmland, often leveraged with federal and private matching funds.

Committee members asked follow‑up questions about counting saved water and accounting for partner funding; staff offered to provide dashboard access and documentation for reports cited.