Financial and Technical Assistance Available for Wisconsin Farmers and Landowners through EQIP and RCPP

Apply now for the first round of fiscal year 2025 funding consideration. Applications are accepted at all USDA Service Centers in Wisconsin. Applications received after November 1st will automatically be deferred to the next funding cycle.
MADISON, Wis., September 23, 2024 – Farmers, producers, and landowners are encouraged to plan ahead and sign up early for the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) voluntary conservation programs. Nathan Fikkert, NRCS Wisconsin State Conservationist, announced that farmers and landowners interested in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) or Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) need to apply by November 1, 2024 for funding in fiscal year 2025.
EQIP and RCPP are the primary programs available to Wisconsin’s applicants, offering financial assistance for more than 120 basic conservation practices. Last year, Wisconsin NRCS invested $63.2 million in conservation practices through EQIP and RCPP. Although NRCS accepts applications year-round, please apply now for the first round of fiscal year 2025 funding consideration. Applications are accepted at all USDA Service Centers in Wisconsin. Applications received after November 1st will automatically be deferred to the next funding cycle.
The Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act allow NRCS to support conservation that ensures cost-effective financial assistance for improved soil health, water and air quality, and other natural resources benefits. “Receiving EQIP or RCPP applications early gives our staff ample time to assist our customers, address their resource concerns and begin planning for their land’s conservation needs,” said Fikkert.
All eligible applications received by November 1, 2024, will be evaluated, prioritized, and ranked for funding in 2025. Farmers should contact their local USDA Service Center to get started on producer eligibility and planning. Fikkert reminds those who are interested in practices that may require permits, such as manure storage or streambank restoration, to begin planning and seeking permits as soon as possible. Applicants with shovel-ready projects (designs completed and permit applications submitted) will receive a higher ranking in select fund pools.
Special sign-up opportunities are also open for Farmstead, Local Work Group, Organic, Climate Smart Agriculture & Forestry, Urban Agriculture, Conservation Incentive Contracts, as well as several landscape-based initiatives. NRCS offers increased payment rates and special initiatives for Beginning Farmers and Historically Underserved producers, such as Tribal Nations. All these initiatives offer both technical and financial assistance through EQIP and RCPP.
Farmstead: NRCS helps livestock producers improve nutrient handling and clean water separation by implementing practices that support manure storage, feedlot and barnyard runoff, and clean water diversion. This special opportunity also provides technical and financial assistance for roofs and covers placed over open cattle lots, for example.
Local Working Groups: Wisconsin has 16 Local Working Groups (LWG). Each LWG has a fund pool for cropland, pasture, and forest and wildlife. LWGs collect local stakeholder input and use the feedback to focus on their own local resource concern priorities for each fund pool, making each LWG fund pool unique and locally relevant.
Organic: NRCS helps certified organic growers and producers working to achieve organic certification install conservation practices that address resource concerns on organic operations and transitioning to organic production.
Conservation Planning Activities (CPA), Design Implementation Activities (DIA), and Conservation Evaluation & Monitoring Activities (CEMA): CPAs— Activities resulting in a conservation plan that documents client decisions regarding selected alternatives, including identification of desired primary and supporting practices that the client would like to use to treat identified resource concerns. DIAs— Activities that allow for development of specific practice designs, management prescriptions, or other instructions that the client can implement into the conservation practice or system of conservation practices. CEMAs— Activities that include evaluation, monitoring, testing, or assessment for a specific purpose, to complete practice implementation requirements or to determine the effectiveness of conservation practices and activities.
Climate-Smart Agriculture & Forestry – Inflation Reduction Act: The Inflation Reduction Act provides additional funds to NRCS specifically to address climate change mitigation through activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve carbon storage using a scientifically identified sub-set of practices. The benefits are two-fold: producers improve the health, productivity, resiliency and profitability of their operations while helping mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Urban Agriculture & Forestry: As American agriculture continues to grow in new directions, NRCS conservation assistance is growing along with it. To encourage and support urban agriculture within the state, Wisconsin will offer targeted funding to support urban agriculture and forestry producers.
EQIP Conservation Incentive Contracts: Conservation Incentive Contracts (CIC) provide additional opportunities for eligible producers to further the adoption, management and maintenance of conservation practices and activities through the implementation of incentive practices. Incentive contracts blend EQIP and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) by providing producers with financial assistance to adopt conservation activities on working landscapes. The EQIP-CIC focus for fiscal year 2025 is on Climate-Smart agriculture and forestry practices.
Northeast Wisconsin Forestry & Wildlife Partnership: The Northeast Wisconsin Forestry and Wildlife Partnership project has been developed through the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership (JCLRP) and enables NRCS and the U.S. Forest Service to collaborate with agricultural producers and forest landowners focused on conservation and restoration efforts. These conservation efforts aim to achieve several landscape-level outcomes, including reductions in storm-caused fuel loads and fire risks, improving water quality and aquatic habitat, increasing habitat for species such as golden-winged warblers, brook trout, and monarch butterflies, and promoting forest health through oak wilt prevention, emerald ash borer mitigation and planting resilient tree species.
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), NRCS offers financial assistance to agricultural producers for implementing practices that improve water quality in selected watersheds. Eligible watersheds include Door-Kewaunee Rivers, Lower Fox River, Manitowoc-Sheboygan, Milwaukee River, Oconto River, Peshtigo River, Pensaukee River, Upper Fox River, Wolf River, and Lake Winnebago watersheds.
Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative: The overall goals of the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) are to improve water quality by minimizing contributions of phosphorus and nitrogen to the surface waters in the basin and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. Within the larger Rush River watershed, five sub-watersheds are eligible for MRBI funding: Town of Martell-Rush River, Goose Creek-Trimbelle River, Spring Creek-Trimbelle River, Little Trimbelle River, and Crystal Springs Coulee-Rush River.
National Water Quality Initiative: The National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) is designed to help individual agricultural producers take actions to reduce the runoff of sediment, nutrients and pathogens into waterways where water quality is a critical concern. The goal is to implement conservation practices in watersheds focused in a concentrated area so that agriculture no longer contributes to the impairment of water bodies within these priority watersheds. Eligible watersheds include Bear Lake-Little Wolf River in Waupaca County, Town of La Prairie & City of Beloit Lower Rock River East in Rock County, and Sinsinawa River in Grant County.
Regional Conservation Partnership Program: The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination between NRCS and partners to deliver conservation assistance to producers and landowners. NRCS provides assistance to producers through contracts or easement agreements. Projects with funding available in fiscal year 2025 are:
- Improving Forest Health for Wildlife Resources project with American Bird Conservancy will enhance Golden-winged Warbler (GWWA) habitat of early successional deciduous forest habitat with adjacent mature forest and Kirtland’s Warbler (KIWA) habitat of young jack pine. Project area is northern Wisconsin.
- Improving Oak Ecosystem Health in the Great Lakes Region project with American Bird Conservancy will restore, enhance, and protect oak ecosystems (forests, woodlands, and savannas). Project area is southeast Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin Farmland Protection Partnership Project with American Farmland Trust focuses on improving soil quality on permanently protected land. Project area is throughout Wisconsin.
- Improving Soil Health and Water Quality project with Dane County Land and Water Resources Department will assist agricultural producers in adopting practices that maintain year-round vegetative cover to reduce phosphorus loss from croplands and improve soil health. Project area is the Yahara and Sugar River watersheds in Dane county.
- Ashwaubenon Creek and Dutchman Creek Watersheds Water Quality and Habitat Improvement project with NEW Water will improve water quality and habitat to reduce sediment and phosphorus runoff downstream. Project area is the Ashwaubenon Creek and Dutchman Creek watersheds in Brown and Outagamie counties with an emphasis on land owned by the Oneida Nation.
- Grasslands and Oak Savannas for Water and Wildlife project with Sand County Foundation will benefit grassland birds and pollinators while reducing nutrient and sediment loss by focusing on perennial solutions (with an emphasis on converting vulnerable cropland to grazing systems and restoring degraded prairie and savanna remnants). Project area is the driftless region.
- Driftless Area Habitat for the Wild and Rare project with Trout Unlimited focuses on restoration of cold-water streams and seeks to pair instream habitat or aquatic organism passage with broader farm-scale conservation activities. Project area is the driftless region.
For more information, landowners interested in applying for EQIP, RCPP, or any other funding opportunities through NRCS should contact the local USDA Service Center for their county.
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