Announcements
 2020 CIG Classic and On-Farm Trials Awards Announced
NRCS’s national Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) programs were highly competitive in 2020. This year, 14 awards were made through On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials and 24 through CIG Classic, totaling nearly $40 million.
2021 CIG Application Period Opening this Spring
The 2021 CIG Classic and On-Farm Trials Notices of Funding Opportunity will be posted this spring to the CIG website. NRCS is looking forward to another strong slate of innovative proposals!
2021 RCPP Alternative Funding Arrangement Application Period Opening Soon
The next Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) National Funding Opportunity is scheduled to open in early 2021. Once open, the funding opportunity and the details for how to apply can be found on the RCPP How to Apply page. If your organization is interested in applying to this funding opportunity, reach out to your local state RCPP coordinator.
Success Spotlight
Catalytic Capital and Agriculture – New Report Highlights Opportunities to Invest in Conservation
In October, The Environmental Defense Fund and Climate and Forest Capital, LLC co-published a report titled Catalytic Capital and Agriculture: Opportunities to Invest in Healthy Soils, Resilient Farms, and a Stable Climate, with work funded in part through a Conservation Innovation Grant. The publication lays out a strategy for how early funding can encourage private conservation investment. “Emerging innovations can help provide a business case for NRCS conservation practices, the economics of regenerative agriculture, and sustainable supply chain initiatives that will help deliver innovative agricultural solutions to our nation’s largest environmental challenges while delivering a more resilient food system,” said NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton.
Read more about NRCS’s work funding conservation finance projects on the USDA blog.
Can a Fence That Allows Elk to Pass Stop the Disease They Carry?
Yellowstone’s Cody elk herd makes one of “the longest migrations of elk we know about in the lower 48 states,” according to Arthur Middleton, an assistant professor of wildlife management and policy at UC Berkeley and trustee at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, who has studied them extensively for nearly two decades. The elk do not distinguish between public and private land. But elk carry brucellosis - when they get trapped by fences on private land, they pose a risk to ranchers in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
Rancher Mick McCarty and Wyoming Game & Fish Department disease biologist Eric Maichak had an unusual idea: what if they used wildlife-friendly fencing to make it easier to get elk out when they wanted them out? Through RCPP, the Nature Conservancy was able to distribute funding for the project, while NRCS provided key technical support.
Read more about this RCPP project.
Conservation Innovation in the News
Check out the latest updates from our partners and the media on how RCPP and CIG projects are advancing innovative conservation approaches and technologies!
Grant Aims to Reduce Conflict Between Predators and People
NRCS Awards Five Innovation Grants in Oregon
Interseeding Cover Crops Early Could Solve Fall Establishment Issues
Clean Water Partnership Accelerates Conservation Efforts
NRCS Supports University of Illinois to Clean Agricultural Drainage Water
2020 TN Small Farm Expo: Best Management Practices of Container-Grown Blueberry Production
High Plains Researchers to Help Protect Rocky Mountain National Park
Farmers Needed for $4 Million Conservation Innovation Grant
Newtrient Granted CIG Funding by the USDA’s NRCS to Evaluate 15 Technology Systems and Practices Across the Country
AFT Shares Economic and Environmental Tool Kit to Quantify Soil Health Benefits
Report: Catalytic Capital Needed in Ag
Illinois-Led Research Aims to Reduce Nitrates in Agricultural Drainage Water
Moving the Needle Toward Soil and Water Conservation, Reducing Carbon Footprint
CPNRD and The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Futures for Nebraska Soil Health initiative
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