May 11 - 29: $50 million funding available for Organic Farming Initiative

[Guest guest]

An Alert from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

 

Organic Initiative Funds Now Available!

First Sign up Period: May 11 - May 29

 

 

The Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) has created a special $50

million pool of funding for a new Organic Initiative under the Environmental

Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The Initiative will provide payments and

technical assistance to transitioning and existing organic farmers who adopt

NRCS conservation practices used in organic production systems.

 

Eligible Farmers:

 

*

Farmers just beginning or in the process of transitioning to organic

production;

*

Existing certified organic farmers who want to transition additional acres

or animals;

*

Existing certified organic farmers who need to adopt additional

conservation measures;

*

Producers who sell less than $5,000 in agricultural products and are thus

exempt from formal certification are still eligible for Organic Initiative

payments.

 

The program will be available in every state and county. Sign up begins for this

special pool of funds on Monday, May 11th and continues through May 29th.

Organic or transitioning farmers who have already applied for EQIP funding may

choose to move their application into the special organic pool which will have

higher payment rates for some practices than the regular EQIP program and a

$20,000 per year ($80,000 over 6 years) payment limit. Costs of technical

assistance provided by NRCS will not count against the payment limitation.

 

Transitioning farmers are also being offered an opportunity to develop a

" conservation activity plan " as part of their EQIP Organic Initiative contract.

A conservation activity plan will be needed to meet National Organic Program

certification requirements and is an important step toward certification.

 

All applications received during this sign up period will be ranked using

national and in some cases state level criteria related to how well the proposed

contract contributes to conserving soil, water quality and other resource

concerns. Farmers who are awarded a contract will then be eligible for technical

assistance to assist with implementation of the practices. NRCS has set aside an

additional $5 million for technical assistance for this initiative.

 

You can find contact information for your local local NRCS office here.

 

A number of NSAC Member organizations are available to answer producer questions

about the Organic Initiative. Visit their websites for more inforamtion:

Organic Farming Research Foundation, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance,

National Center for Appropriate Technology, Center for Rural Affairs,

Agriculture and Land Based Training Association, Practical Farmers of Iowa,

Kansas Rural Center, Florida Organic Growers.

 

For additional detail on the Organic Initiative see this NSAC Memo and this May

5th directive from NRCS.

 

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

110 Maryland Avenue NE

Washington, DC 20002

202-547-5754