Source: USDA, 4/20/20
USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) today announced it will extend deadlines for
project proposal submissions to May 29 for On-Farm Conservation Innovation
Trials and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Alternative
Funding Arrangements (AFAs). Originally deadlines were mid-May, but NRCS wanted
to provide additional time because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“NRCS recognizes the hardship that this unprecedented time is causing our partners and others,” said NRCS Chief Matthew Lohr. “We want to offer them additional time to take full advantage of these opportunities to propose bold and transformative projects to advance agriculture and conservation for present and future generations of agricultural producers and private forest landowners.”
NRCS will invest up to $50 million in fiscal year 2020 to fund AFAs, a unique
and partner-led approach to address natural resource concerns at local,
regional and landscape scales. NRCS is authorized to fund up to 15 projects in
which partners will receive greater liberty to manage an RCPP project and the
associated relationships with participating producers and landowners. Funding
for projects will range from $250,000 to $10 million. Through
AFAs, approved project partners can work directly with farmers, ranchers and
private forest landowners to carry out RCPP projects, instead of implementing
projects through NRCS producer contracts and landowner easements. The
2018 Farm Bill highlighted some project types that are particularly suited to AFAs: =
Projects that use innovative approaches to leverage the federal
investment in conservation; =
Projects that deploy a pay-for-performance conservation approach;
and =
Projects that seek large-scale infrastructure investments that
generate benefits for agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forest
owners. Additionally,
NRCS will invest up to $25 million in On-Farm Trials in 2020, which are a
component of the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). This investment will
help support the adoption and evaluation of innovative conservation approaches
on agricultural land. This includes up to $10 million for the Soil Health
Demonstration Trials. On-Farm Trials funding is designed to offer producers,
through partners, technical and financial assistance compensation for any risks
associated with carrying out new conservation practices, systems and approaches
at the farm level, including the environmental, financial and social (to the
extent possible) impacts of carrying them out. NRCS
is seeking proposals that address at least one of the following four On-Farm
Trial main priorities: =
Irrigation Management Technologies; =
Precision Agriculture Technologies and Strategies; =
Management Technologies and Strategies; and =
Soil Health Demonstrations Trials. For
more information about On-Farm Trials, please visit NRCS’s On-Farm Trials webpage. For more
information on the RCPP program and how to apply, visit the RCPP web page. |