Do you have natural resource concerns on your land that are hindering your ability to maximize yields or making it difficult to efficiently use all the land available to you? Are you dealing with flooding on areas of your property? Is soil eroding off your land due to wind, runoff or other Jerry Raynor factors? Have you considered making the switch to no-till farming to help your land while also saving money on fuel?
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has voluntary conservation programs available to help you to resolve these issues and more that might be negatively impacting your land. NRCS has a service center assisting every county throughout Indiana and each of our local district conservationists is committed to helping you help the land.
NRCS assistance comes in many forms, but all our programs are voluntary and designed to help you address natural resource concerns on your land that would be financially difficult to rectify on your own. An easy first step toward working with NRCS is to utilize the free conservation concerns tools located at Farmers.gov/conservation/concernstool. This tool can help you identify areas where’d you like assistance. Then locate your local service center by visiting Farmers.gov/service-locator and call for an appointment or stop by the office.
Your local district conservationist will talk through the concerns you have identified and start working with you to build a conservation plan to address them. NRCS technical assistance is always free and provides personalized advice and information, based on the latest science and research, to help you make informed decisions on your land. For more information about conservation planning with NRCS visit go.usa.gov/xJmvu
If you choose to take the next step towards improving your operation, your district conservationist can help you apply for financial assistance through one of NRCS’s Farm Bill programs. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is NRCS’s flagship program and provides cost-share assistance to help you implement a wide variety of practices including transitioning to no-till, planting cover crops, addressing issues caused by excess water, developing a nutrient management plan and more. For information about all the conservation programs available visit Farmers.gov/conservation-programs.
Historically underserved farmers such as farmers of color, limited resource farmers, veterans and beginning farmers are eligible for higher payment rates, advanced payments to help you implement practices and priority consideration during the application ranking process. Your district conservationist can assist you with determining eligibility.
For more than 80 years NRCS has been committed to helping people help the land. Through our free technical assistance and financial assistance programs our goal is to help you address the concerns already impacting your land, so please reach out to your local district conservationist and see how he or she can help, no string attached. We look forward to working with you.
What is the USDA’s NRCS
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service helps America’s farmers conserve the nation’s soil, water, air and other natural resources. All programs are voluntary and offer science-based solutions that benefit both the landowner and the environment. To learn more about NRCS and what it does go online to www.in.nrcs.usda. gov. Or, follow NRCS on Twitter at https://twitter.com/IndianaNRCS.
