State Conservationist for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Georgia, Terrance O. Rudolph has extended the recently announced sign-ups for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program’s (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) that utilize funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

These sign-ups, that utilize IRA funding to provide direct climate mitigation benefits and expand access to financial and technical assistance for producers to advance conservation on their farm, ranch or forest land have been extended until May 5, 2023, to allow customers more time to discuss their land’s needs and management objectives with their local NRCS conservationists.  

“Each of the IRA sign-ups previously announced criteria will remain the same,” said Rudolph. “This extra time should give our customers the time they need to make the right decision for their conservation goals.”

EQIP-IRA Sign-upUnder this statewide sign-up, the ACT NOW streamlined application and contract approval approach is still in effect. Cover crop applications will be assessed and ranked as they are submitted to the USDA Field Service Center and based on funds availability, application assessments with a ranking score of 67 points or greater will be preapproved immediately for the first batch of funding. Producers are encouraged to apply for the program at their earliest convenience. 

Secondly, those applying for energy conservation related practices will be administered through the normal batching and ranking process that occurs after the sign-up conclusion date. The energy-specific practices included in this sign-up are as follows:

• Combustion System Improvement (Practice Code 372)
• Energy Efficient Agricultural Operation (Practice Code 374)
• Energy Efficient Lighting System (Practice Code 670)
• Energy Efficient Building Envelope (Practice Code 672)

CSP-IRA Sign-upFor the IRA funded portion of this sign-up, agricultural producers in Baker, Calhoun, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, and Seminole counties can apply for Soil Health focused practices and enhancements. Whereas producers and forest landowners in Bleckley, Dodge, Emmanuel, Johnson, Laurens, Montgomery, Toombs, Treutlen, Twiggs, Washington, Wheeler, and Wilkinson counties can apply for Agroforestry, Forestry and Upland Wildlife Habitat practices and enhancements. 

Download the Georgia CSP - Inflation Reduction Act Activities List for more information. 

Original source can be found here.