USDA offers $2.8M for R.I. conservation projects

WARWICK – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is seeking applications from Rhode Island producers for $2.8 million in conservation assistance.
The money – from the NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program – can be used to help manage pastures, manure, irrigation water, invasive species, endangered or threatened species, buffer areas, woodlands, erosion and more. Improvements to water quality and quantity, air quality (reducing odors or chemical drift), or soil health are among the projects to which Rhode Island landowners have devoted past EQIP awards.
EQIP is a voluntary program that provides cost-sharing and incentive payments to help landowners improve environmental quality and agricultural production. To be eligible, an applicant must be raising crops or livestock on eligible land, among other requirements. Croplands, pastures, private non-industrial forests and other farm lands all are eligible.
Nov. 1 is the deadline for submitting requests for EQIP aid in early 2008. Applications are accepted year-round, but the NRCS office in Warwick is encouraging agricultural producers to apply now, as program requirements and funding are likely to change next year.
To receive Environmental Quality Incentives Program information and an application packet, call the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service at 828-1300 or stop by the Rhode Island NCRS office at 60 Quaker Lane, Suite 46, in Warwick. EQIP information and application materials also can be found online, at www.ri.nrcs.usda.gov.