Technical,
education, and financial assistance to eligible farmers and ranchers
to address soil, water, and related natural resource concerns on
their lands in an environmentally beneficial and cost-effective
manner. This program provides assistance to farmers and ranchers
in complying with Federal, State, and tribal environmental laws,
and encourages environmental enhancement. The purpose of this program
is achieved through the implementation of structural, vegetative,
and land management practices on eligible land. This program is
funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). NRCS provides
overall program management and implementation leadership for conservation
planning and implementation. The Farm Service Agency provides leadership
for administrative processes and procedures for the program.
TYPES
OF ASSISTANCE:
Direct Payments for Specified Use. Place Cursor Here for Definition
USES
AND USE RESTRICTIONS:
Technical
assistance is provided in conservation planning for eligible participants.
Education and financial assistance is provided for implementation
of structural, vegetative, and land management practices. Cost-share
payments may be made to implement one or more eligible structural
or vegetative practices. Incentive payments can be made to implement
one or more land management practices. Fifty percent of the funding
available for technical, cost-share payments, incentive payments,
and education shall be targeted at practices relating to livestock
production.
ELIGIBILITY
REQUIREMENTS:
Applicant
Eligibility: Individual/family farmers and ranchers
who face serious threats to soil, water, and related natural resources,
or who need assistance with complying with Federal and State environment
laws. A participant may be an owner, landlord, operator, or tenant
of eligible agricultural lands. Limited resource producers, small-scale
producers, producers of minority groups, Federally recognized Indian
tribal governments, Alaska natives, and Pacific Islanders are encouraged
to apply.
Beneficiary
Eligibility: Individual/family farmers and
ranchers who face serious threats to soil, water, and related
natural resources, or who need assistance with complying with
Federal and State environmental laws. A participant may be an
owner, landlord, operator, or tenant of eligible agricultural
lands. Limited resource producers, small-scale producers, producers
of minority groups, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments,
Alaska natives, and Pacific Islanders are encouraged to apply.
Credentials/Documentation:
Evidence that applicant has control over land to be entered into
contract and submits an acceptable conservation plan for the farm
or ranch unit of concern that incorporates needed natural resource
conservation practices. This program is excluded from coverage
under OMB Circular No. A-87.
Pre-application
Coordination: None. This program is excluded
from coverage under OMB Circular No. A-102 and E.O. 12372.
Application
Procedure: Program participation is voluntary.
The applicant applies at the local USDA Service Center on Form
CCC-1200. Applications may be filed at any time during the year.
The participant develops a conservation plan for the farm or ranching
unit of concern. The participant's conservation plan serves as
the basis for the EQIP contract. Technical assistance, education
assistance and cost-share or incentive payments may be provided
to apply needed conservation practices and land use adjustments
within a time schedule specified by the conservation plan. A contract
with a participant may apply one or more land management practices
or one or more structural or vegetative practices or both.
Award
Procedure: Natural Resources Conservation
Service may designate a watershed, an area, or a region of special
environmental sensitivity or having significant soil, water, or
related natural resource concern as a priority area. The priority
areas are designated based on recommendations of local work groups
which are convened by the local conservation district. NRCS will
give special consideration to applicants in priority areas who
have conservation plans that address the natural resource concerns
for which the priority area was designated. Technical, education,
and financial assistance may also be provided to participants
with significant statewide natural resource concerns outside a
priority area. Applications will be periodically ranked and selected
for funding.
Deadlines:
None.
Range
of Approval/Disapproval Time: From 10 to 60
days.
Appeals:
A participant may appeal any adverse determination to the FSA
county committee.
Renewals:
Not applicable.
ASSISTANCE
CONSIDERATIONS:
Formula
and Matching Requirements: Structural and vegetative
practices can be funded by cost-sharing up to 75 percent of the
total cost of establishing the practice. Incentive payments can
be made for land management practices in an amount and rate that
NRCS determines is necessary to encourage a participant to perform
the practice that would not otherwise be initiated without government
assistance. Other practices may be required to be installed without
program payments.
Length
and Time Phasing of Assistance: Contract period
is between 5 to 10 years, depending on the conservation systems
that need to be applied. Obligations for assistance are tied to
the schedule for applying conservation practices included in the
conservation plan used as the basis for the 5 to 10 year contract.
Payments are made when the participant and NRCS certify that conservation
practice is completed in accordance with contract. CCC expenditures
under a contract entered into during a fiscal year will not be
made until the subsequent fiscal year.
POST
ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Reports:
There are no reports and the participants makes an annual status
review during the length of the contract that includes maintenance
of completed contract items and need for deletion or addition of
contract items. Participants must operate and maintain a conservation
practice for its intended purpose for the life span of the practice.
Audits:
Natural Resources Conservation Service makes periodic random reviews
of the operation and maintenance of the contract items during
the life span of the conservation practice. Participants are subject
to audit by the Office of Inspector General, USDA.
Records:
Maintained in local NRCS office, FSA county office, and Federal
record centers for specified number of years.
FINANCIAL
INFORMATION:
Account
Identification: 12-4336-0-1-302.
Obligations:
(Grants) FY 02 $160,122,232; FY 02 est $164,470,000; and FY 03
est $162,000,000. (Salaries and expenses) FY 01 $37,989,132; FY
02 est $35,530,000; and FY 03 est $38,000,000. (Education Assistance)
FY 01 $1,831,436; FY 02 & FY 03 est will not exceed 1% of grants
obligations estimate.
Range
and Average of Financial Assistance:
Cost-share and incentive payments are limited to $10,000 per person
per year and to $50,000 over the length of the contract. Average
contract payments are estimated to be $15,000.
Over 1,300 State priority areas were submitted. These proposals
far exceeded the available funds for fiscal year 1998. When fund
allocations were made to the States, it resulted in 655 approved
priority areas being funded. Over 55,000 applications were received
in fiscal year 1998. NRCS estimates that it would require over $490
million to fully fund all of the applications received last year,
alone, which is three times the available financial assistance funds.
After NRCS ranked the applications based on criteria developed at
the local and state level, FSA county committees approved over 19,800
long- term contracts with farmers and ranchers. The EQIP financial
assistance on these contracts will exceed $157 million over the
5 to 10 year length of the contracts.
REGULATIONS,
GUIDELINES, AND LITERATURE:
7 CFR Part 1466. Program is announced through news media and in
announcements to agricultural producers, farm and ranch owners and
operators in the county. Program manuals, handbooks, and leaflets
issued by NRCS and FSA.
INFORMATION
CONTACTS:
Regional
or Local Office: For more information on this
and other related conservation programs, consult the local telephone
directory where your land is located for location of the USDA service
center. NRCS, FSA, and many local conservation districts are located
in USDA service centers. For a list of NRCS State offices with telephone
numbers and addresses, see appropriate Appendix IV of the Catalog.
Headquarters
Office: Deputy Chief for Natural Resource
Conservation Programs, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, DC
20013. Attn: Deputy Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Programs.
Telephone: (202) 720-1845. FAX: (202) 720-4265.
Web
Site Address: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov
EXAMPLES
OF FUNDED PROJECTS:
No projects were funded at the time of publication.
CRITERIA
FOR SELECTING PROPOSALS:
Applications will be periodically ranked and selected for funding
based on: the environmental benefits per dollar expended; the cost-effectiveness
of the conversation practices; the environmental benefits derived;
extent to which the contract will assist the applicant in complying
with Federal, State, tribal or local environmental laws; whether
the land is located in a priority area and the extent the contract
will assist the priority area goals and objectives.
