The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $12 million in cooperative agreements for 49 projects that expand access to conservation technical assistance for livestock producers and increase the use of conservation practices on grazing lands. The funding is provided through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI). These projects have identified barriers to accessing grazing assistance for producers and will include outreach and support for reaching underserved producers.
One of those projects is through the National Center for Appropriate Technology Inc. It’s titled “Women, Livestock, and the Land—South: Connecting Underserved Farmers in the Gulf States Region”. The initiative aims to empower and equip women farmers who are beginning grass-based livestock enterprises to expand their knowledge and practice skills in goal setting, soil health, regenerative grazing, animal handling, health, equipment and tools, and direct marketing. NCAT is expanding this project from a pilot project in Arkansas and Tennessee into the Gulf States Region to engage and share this opportunity with limited resources, historically underserved, and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Another project involves the Rolling Hills Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. The Rolling Hills Bale Grazing Initiative will introduce the bale grazing system in the state of Georgia with the result being protection of natural resources. The Bale Grazing Initiative will cut down on soil destabilization and runoff by allowing producers to set out winter fed hay spaced out and in sections for up to 90 days. This means not having to make trips across wet unfrozen ground causing erosion and runoff. The Hay spacing will also spread-out feeding area to decrease pasture damage from winter feeding. An additional benefit will be wider areas of fertilization across the pasture due to cattle feeding across a larger area. The Bale Grazing Initiative will improve soil conditions at test sites reducing the amount of fertilizer needed and eliminating over fertilization and runoff.
To learn more about this initiative and see other projects that were awarded, click here.