NRCS reminds Tribal producers: apply for new EQIP opportunity
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News from USDA
BOZEMAN — The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is announcing the nationwide availability of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Conservation Incentive Contracts option.
“The EQIP Conservation Incentive Contracts give each state the ability to identify and address priorities. For NRCS in Montana, this means focusing on opportunities for historically underserved ag. producers across the state to conserve their natural resources,” NRCS State Conservationist Tom Watson said. “An investment in the environmental resilience of farms and ranches is an investment in rural communities.”
Conservation Incentive Contracts address priority resource concerns, including sequestering carbon and improving soil health in high-priority areas. Through these contracts, NRCS works with producers to strengthen the quality and condition of natural resources on their operations using management practices such as conservation crop rotation, cover crops, prescribed grazing, nutrient management, and residue and tillage management that target resource concerns, including degraded soil and water quality, available water and soil erosion.
Conservation Incentive Contracts offer Tribal producers annual incentive payments to implement management practices as well as conservation evaluation and monitoring activities to help manage, maintain and improve priority natural resource concerns and build on existing conservation efforts. Find a list of practices in the “Conservation Incentive Contracts” fact sheet at: www.mt.nrcs.usda.govunder Programs, then EQIP.
Conservation Incentive Contracts last five years. The 2018 Farm Bill created the new Conservation Incentive Contract option, and it was piloted in 2021 in four states, including Montana.
The EQIP Conservation Incentive Contracts in Montana will be targeted to include socially disadvantaged producers operating on Montana’s seven reservations and in Blaine, Cascade, Glacier, and Hill counties.
NRCS accepts applications year-round, but landowners should apply by the Feb. 18, 2022, ranking date to be considered for this year’s funding. Call your local USDA Service Center to learn more. Find contact information using the Service Center Locator at: farmers.gov/contact.
