The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas announced Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding application deadlines.
The first deadline is Dec. 4, 2020, and the second funding application deadline will be Feb. 21, 2021.
Applications are taken year around for NRCS programs, but deadlines are announced to rank and fund eligible conservation projects. Farmers and ranchers interested in signing up for EQIP should submit applications to their local USDA service center. If already a USDA client, farmers and ranchers can submit applications online via farmers.gov.
EQIP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers.
Technical assistance is provided without a fee from NRCS specialists to help landowners and land managers plan and implement conservation practices to help them meet their land management goals, address natural resource concerns and improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and related resources on agricultural land and non-industrial private forestland.
The program was reauthorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.
National program initiatives include air quality, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Monarch butterfly and more.
State EQIP initiatives include beginning farmers and ranchers, Colorado River Fresh Water Mussels, fever tick eradication, high tunnel systems, on-farm energy, sourcewater protection, Eagle Mountain Lake, conservation activity plans and disaster recovery, among others.
For additional information, visit the NRCS Texas website. Applications for EQIP are accepted on a continuous basis.
Farmers and ranchers interested in EQIP can contact their local USDA service center or visit the NRCS EQIP web page.