Federal Financial Assistance is Available to Support Organic Farming: Apply by May 29, 2009

The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“Department”) administers the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 ("Farm Bill"). The Farm Bill includes a voluntary conservation program for farmers and ranchers which promotes agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible national goals. To accomplish these goals the Department has implemented the Environmental Quality Incentives Program ("EQIP"). The program provides financial assistance to owners of land in agricultural production or persons engaged in livestock or agricultural production on eligible land to implement conservation practices.

On May 5, 2009 the Department announced availability of $50 million through EQIP to encourage more organic agriculture production. Farmers have three weeks to apply for funds to help pay the cost of converting to organic production. Registration runs from May 11-29, 2009. Farmers can receive a maximum of $20,000 a year per farm in organic transition funding and up to $80,000 per farm in six years. The following practices are eligible for support: conservation crop rotation; cover crop; nutrient management; pest management; prescribed grazing; and forage harvest management.

Two separate National Screening Tools are available to applicants (one for producers transitioning for the first time and one for certified organic producers transitioning additional land or adding additional conservation practices).

Information about how to apply for assistance through EQIP is available online. Click on the State where the property that you are interested in enrolling in EQIP is located. This will take you to that State's Programs home page, which will link to that State's EQIP page. Each State's EQIP page includes application ranking criteria, priority resource concerns, lists of eligible practices, payment rates, information about where you can submit applications, eligibility requirements and other program requirements.

Applications for the EQIP program (PDF, 33KB) are accepted on a continuous basis, however, you must follow the above-referenced application “cut-off” dates for evaluation and ranking of eligible applications.