Earlier this week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the availability of $19.5 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding for a number of agricultural and forestland programs to promote “climate-smart” growing practices. The programs with additional funding available are administered by the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and include the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), with focus on practices like cover cropping, conservation tillage, wetland restoration, prescribed grazing, nutrient management, tree planting and more.
The application deadline for EQIP and CSP projects is March 17, 2023 for California producers. Applications for all other programs are accepted year-round. For more information, visit the NRCS website.