USDA offers conservation program opportunity to support climate-smart agriculture in 2023
Applications must be received by Friday, November 18, 2022
NASHVILLE, August 25, 2022 – The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is announcing an opportunity to implement climate-smart agriculture and forestry in 2023. Producers in Tennessee who are interested in implementing conservation practices to improve natural resources on their farmland have until Friday, November 18, 2022, to submit their application for financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Conservation Incentive Contracts option.
NRCS’ working lands conservation programs, combined with continued program opportunities in Tennessee, are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader effort to support climate-smart agriculture.
“Climate change is happening, and America’s agricultural communities are on the frontlines,” said Tennessee NRCS State Conservationist Sheldon Hightower. “We must continue to support and expand the adoption of conservation approaches to assist Tennessee producers in their work to address the climate crisis and build more resilient operations. We are continuously working to improve our programs and provide farmers with the best tools to conserve our natural resources.”
EQIP Conservation Incentive Contracts
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 prescribed grazing, wildlife habitat management, cover crops, nutrient management, and residue and tillage management that target resource concerns, including degraded soil and water quality, and wildlife habitat.
Conservation Incentive Contracts offer producers incentive payments to implement management practices as well as conservation evaluation and monitoring activities to help manage, maintain, and improve priority natural resource concerns within state high-priority areas and build on existing conservation efforts. Conservation Incentive Contracts last five years. Click here to download our Conservation Incentive Contracts fact sheet for a list of practices.
How to Apply
NRCS accepts applications for conservation programs – year-round, however producers and landowners should apply by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 18, 2022, to be considered for Fiscal Year 2023 EQIP CIC funding.
Applicants can submit a signed and dated Form NRCS-CPA-1200 in the office, hand delivered, mailed, scanned, emailed, or through an agency-approved business tool (Farmers.gov). If NRCS receives a program application request by other means, such as by telephone, a NRCS representative must manually prepare Form NRCS-CPA-1200, using the date NRCS received the request in order to establish the application cut-off deadline has been met. NRCS will follow up to obtain the participant’s signature to ensure the application was properly completed prior to ranking.
More Information
Through conservation programs, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to help producers and landowners make conservation improvements on their land that benefit natural resources, build resiliency, and contribute to the nation’s broader effort to combat the impacts of climate change. More broadly, these efforts build on others across USDA to encourage use of conservation practices.
Contact Jamie Carpenter at jamie.carpenter@usda.gov or 615-277-2576, for more information about these programs.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit usda.gov.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
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