The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that funding is now available for Conservation Innovation Grants. Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief, Colton Buckley, provides the details on these grants. “We have announced $65 million for this fiscal year, broken up $50 million for on-farm trials for that conservation implementation, and $15 million for SIG Classic,” said Buckley.
“SIG on-farm trial priorities, we have got irrigation water management technologies, nutrient management, grazing lands, and soil health demonstration trials. And then for SIG Classic priorities, we have got farmer-focused conservation outcomes to include water management, like water quality, as well as water quantity, soil health, habitat improvement, and conserving ecosystems by managing pest pressure. The major focus across everything we are doing at NRCS, particularly in SIG, is to support keeping working lands and working hands,” Buckley added.
Buckley also said, “You just head over to grants.gov, the deadline’s July 27th for both SIG Classic as well as SIG on-farm trial. We’ve got a modernized, streamlined application to show those farmer-focused outcomes that are proposed to be implemented.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.