Agricultural Cost-Share Marketing Toolkit

Virginia Agricultural BMP Cost-Share Program

The following assets are designed to help Soil and Water Conservation Districts quickly and easily market the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) program.

Have a question or comment? A resource to share or request? Just want to keep in touch? Drop us a line at pcmo@dcr.virginia.gov.

Key Messages

Farmers can receive up to $300,000 in state cost-share funding for implementing over 60 best management practices through the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) program.
These voluntary practices protect water quality and provide a long-term boost to an operation’s bottom line through increased productivity and reduced labor and input costs.
Virginia’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) offer technical assistance and financial incentives through the VACS program. Farmers interested in applying should contact their local SWCD.

VACS Brand Kit

Creating VACS marketing materials? Download DCR’s brand kit for guidance on color palette, typography, messaging and logo usage

Flyers and Fact sheets

Districts can customize these with their name, phone number, email address and website in the lower right corner. Simply type in the fillable fields.

VACS Fall Advertisement	Overview: Ag BMP Cost-Share Program	Conservation Buffer
Continuous No-Till	Livestock Stream Exclusion	Continuous Cover Crop
Nutrient Management Plan One Pager – Fillable	Small Herd Initiative	Nutrient Management Plan
Poultry Litter Transport Incentive	Grazing Land Management

Customizable Content

VACS local news release template

VACS email newsletter templates

VACS social media sample copy

Resource Management Planning (RMP) email newsletter templates

Radio ad script

Photos

DCR’s image library features ag BMP photos that districts may use for marketing and outreach.

Social Media Graphics

Download the .zip file to access images for social media. These are sized for Facebook

Videos

Email pcmo@dcr.virginia.gov if you would like to download MP4 files of the videos and we’ll add you to DCR’s Teams file sharing group.

New videos added Dec. 8, 2025

Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share Program (30-second) (video)
Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share Program (60-second) (video)
Best Management Practices at Massie and Sons Farm (video)
Rotational grazing at A-Plus Farms (video)
Working with your Soil and Water Conservation District: Old Tavern Farm (video)
Cost-Share at Work: Piedmont Ag (video)
Conservation at Bellevue Farm (video)
Riparian buffers at Pohick Farm (video)
Regenerative Agriculture and Best Management Practices on Dragonfly Farms (video)
Virginia Tech AREC Discusses Soil Management Strategies from Virginia’s SWCDs (video)

SWCD Marketing Minute Newsletter

See the 2023 and 2024 newsletters

Articles

Agricultural BMP Cost-Share Program Overview
FY 2026 press release (6/26/25): record $223 million allocated for soil and water conservation.
Interview: how profitable farms create heathier watersheds (1/28/26)
Investing in Clean Water: The Water Quality Improvement Fund (9/15/25)
Soil Management Strategies with Virginia Tech Eastern Shore AREC (8/27/25): a discussion with Virginia Tech about soil management strategies promoted by SWCDs.
Protecting water quality on Virginia’s farms (8/18/25): overview of VACS and DCR’s soil and water conservation programs.
Regenerative agriculture and best management practices on Dragonfly Farms (7/30/25): discussion on BMPs in regenerative agriculture.
Riparian buffers on Pohick Farm (7/10/25): highlights the benefits of riparian buffers on an award-winning operation.
Another record year for cost-share funding in Virginia (6/26/25): overview of the VACS program for FY 2026
Rotational grazing on A-Plus Farms (6/11/25): explores the benefits of rotational grazing on an award-winning farm.
Protecting livestock and water quality on Massie and Sons Farm (5/16/25): examines BMPs, including livestock stream exclusion, on a Clean Water Farm Award Grand Basin winner’s farm.
How Old Tavern Farm improves its soil with cover crops (3/25/25): highlights the benefits of cover crops on an award-winning operation.

Press release and articles archive

SWCD and cost-share campaign logos

Some districts have adopted the above logo as their district logo. Logos customized with your district’s name are available. Contact Betty Saxman to obtain yours.

Downloadable maps of Virginia’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts are sized for posters and standard letterhead.