Welcome to Rhode Island NRCS! Dig into what NRCS has to offer farmers, forest land owners, and communities in the Ocean State.
NRCS works hand-in-hand with the people of Rhode Island and the Ocean State's three conservation districts to improve and protect their soil, water, air, plants, animals and energy. We employ conservation experts who help farmers, forest landowners, oyster growers, ranchers and urban growers develop conservation plans for sustainable and resilient operations, create and restore wetlands, restore and manage other natural ecosystems, and advise on flood protection, nutrient and animal waste management and watershed planning.
Happening in Rhode Island
News
News
Get the latest news on program sign-ups, events, special projects, funding opportunities and feature stories in the Ocean State.
Events
Events
Join one of our upcoming Rhode Island NRCS or Conservation District events or activities.
Success Stories
Success Stories
Read stories of farmers, forest land owners, and partners who work with NRCS to protect the Ocean State's natural resources.
Communications & Outreach
Communications & Outreach
Sign up here for our monthly Rhode Island USDA newsletter and to receive our Program and Event notices via GovDelivery.
You can also check out our Press Releases, Events, Features, Success Stories, and Publications.
Rhode Island Highlights
Featured Video
Rhode Island State Office
Technical Resources
Ecological Sciences & Conservation Planning
Ecological Sciences & Conservation Planning
The Rhode Island Ecological Sciences Division provides training and resources for environmental compliance and resource concern assessment under the NRCS 9-step Conservation Planning process, and provides expertise on agronomy, biology, cultural resources, fish & wildlife, forestry, native plants, oyster reef restoration, pasture management, pollinators, soil health, and wetlands.
Engineering
Engineering
The NRCS Rhode Island Engineering Division provides innovative engineering solutions to natural resource conservation challenges in the Ocean State.
Soils
Soils
The Rhode Island Soils Division is part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) program - a nationwide partnership of federal, regional, state, and local agencies and institutions. This partnership cooperatively investigates, inventories, documents, classifies, and interprets soils and disseminates, publishes, and promotes the use of information about soils in the Ocean State.
Field Office Technical Guide
Field Office Technical Guide
Rhode Island Field Office Technical Guide - Search the Rhode Island Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG) for natural resources data and reports, resource concerns and planning criteria, conservation practices and conservation effects.
State Payment Schedule
NRCS provides financial assistance for selected conservation practices. The availability and amount of financial assistance can vary between states.
Civil Rights Committee
The National Civil Rights Advisory Committee to the Chief (NCRACC) is designed to provide management officials and employees with counsel and advice to enhance and ensure compliance with their equal employment opportunity and program delivery responsibilities.
State Technical Committee
State Technical Committees serve in an advisory capacity to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the implementation of the natural resources conservation provisions of Farm Bill legislation.
How to Get Assistance
Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?
Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.
To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. We’ll discuss your vision for your land.
NRCS provides landowners with free technical assistance, or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes: resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. Your conservation planner will help you determine if financial assistance is right for you.
We’ll walk you through the application process. To get started on applying for financial assistance, we’ll work with you:
- To fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.
- To meet other eligibility certifications.
Once complete, we’ll work with you on the application, or CPA 1200.
Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they’re considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time.
As part of the application process, we’ll check to see if you are eligible. To do this, you’ll need to bring:
- An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)
- A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property; and
- A farm number.
If you don’t have a farm number, you can get one from USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Typically, the local FSA office is located in the same building as the local NRCS office. You only need a farm number if you’re interested in financial assistance.
NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants. View Application Ranking Dates by State.
If you’re selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done.
Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you’ll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications.
