By Kayla Williams
Looking to create a rotational grazing plan or add fencing to your pastured cattle operation? Improve your water quality by creating stream barriers to prevent your pigs from getting into the water? The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is here to help! On Wednesday January 27, Good Food for Thought hosted a webinar featuring Bryan Hager of Crager Hager Farm, Ricky Dollison of Dollison Farms, and Jose Pagan from the NRCS to share resources and advice on accessing NRCS support for livestock operations. The NRCS is not a regulatory agency, and they work with private landowners on a voluntary basis.
After verifying that you are registered with the FSA (Farm Service Agency), an NRCS agent from your region will help you first create a map of your property and then, a conservation plan based on your land and needs from land use on specific fields to soils maps.
The NRCS has soil scientists, biologists, grazing land specialists, engineers and more, all to help you evaluate your land and create a conservation plan that works for your operation, so we encourage you to be expansive in the questions that you ask NRCS–you may be surprised with what they can help you with.
From planting trees and shrubs along streams to watering facilities for your livestock to forage planting and creating a rotational grazing plan, there are many projects that the NRCS can assist you with. The majority of these NRCS conservation programs are funded by EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program).
To incentivize and support these conservation projects, the NRCS will reimburse you based on the volume of activity like acreage of field seeded, linear feet of fencing installed or number of watering stations. They do have advanced reimbursement funding available for folks from underserved communities, so it doesn’t hurt to ask if that’s applicable to you!
Ask your NRCS representative about “Land Conservation Initiatives” – they have special pools of funding for specific projects they are working on, like establishing long leaf pines and protecting gopher tortoise populations in South Georgia.
Ready to contact your local NRCS office? Here are some tips to keep in mind!
Not all projects will be funded, and the most funding is available at the beginning of the federal government’s fiscal year in early October, so keep that in mind when you are planning when to begin the process with NRCS. If you’re hoping to build a barn, purchase equipment or build perimeter fencing with funds from the NRCS, think again. Their role is to support existing farm businesses, not to put your business into initial operation.
When you sign a contract, they set aside funds to reimburse you for, so don’t sign up for more projects than you can realistically implement! Be sure to keep records of everything relating to the project. You are expected to complete the contract in two years and when you do complete your contract, contact NRCS to receive your payment.
Join us for upcoming Good Food for Thought sessions in our Winter Webinar series for farmers! Upcoming dates and registration links at gfft.georgiaorganics.org/virtual-events.
Kayla Williams is a Farmer Services Coordinator at Georgia Organics. To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit www.georgiaorganics.org and follow us on Instagram @GeorgiaOrganics, Twitter @GeorgiaOrganics, and at www.Facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.