RICHMOND,  – The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Virginia is announcing May 02, 2025, as the cutoff date for disaster assistance applications submitted for funding during Fiscal Year 2025 through the agency’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS Virginia will administer ACT NOW authority for EQIP Classic and IRA to process eligible applications.

This application signup is limited to agricultural producers in the following localities-- the counties of Bedford, Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickenson, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe, and the independent cities of Bristol, Covington, Danville, Galax, Norton and Radford. 

NRCS Virginia will utilize ACT NOW to process disaster assistance applications to promote faster review and action. ACT NOW allows NRCS to immediately approve and obligate a ranked eligible application in a designated ranking pool when the application meets or exceeds a state-determined minimum ranking threshold score. This eliminates the previous need to wait for all applications to be reviewed and preapproved within a ranking pool.

NRCS accepts applications on a continual basis, and applications received after a cutoff date will automatically be considered during future funding cycles. Here’s a link to the new application  NRCS-CPA-1200  October 2024.

For more information about this announcement, please contact ASTC-Programs Marian Jordan at marian.jordan@usda.gov or contact the NRCS field office supporting your area of the state.