The Water Quality Incentives Program was authorized in the 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624) and administered by the Farm Service Agency

Farm Service Agency

The Farm Service Agency is the USDA agency into which were merged several predecessor agencies, including the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service . The ASCS was, as the FSA is now, primarily tasked with the implementation of farm conservation and regulation laws around the country...

. It was repealed and replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a program created by the 1996 farm bill to provide primarily cost-sharing assistance, but also technical and educational assistance, aimed at promoting production and environmental quality, and optimizing environmental benefits...

 (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127). It provided cost-share assistance to implement comprehensive water quality protection plans and was funded by earmarking a portion of the Agricultural Conservation Program

Agricultural Conservation Program

The Agricultural Conservation Program , administered by the Farm Service Agency, is the largest and oldest conservation cost-sharing program; it paid farmers up to $3,500 per year as an incentive to install approved conservation practices. It was terminated in the 1996 farm bill and replaced by a...

.