Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio farmers interested in addressing natural resource concerns on their farm with assistance from the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) must apply now for 2008 funding.

EQIP provides farmers with incentive payments, as well as technical assistance for conservation activities that help limit soil erosion, improve water and air quality, and protect wildlife habitat. It is a voluntary conservation program administered by NRCS to support production agriculture and environmental quality as compatible goals.

“We are on a fast track for getting applications processed this year,” said NRCS State Conservationist Terry Cosby. “While the next Farm Bill is currently making its way through the legislative process, we don’t know when it will be passed or what the final legislation will entail. We have authorization to offer EQIP right now and want to provide Ohio farmers with the assistance to meet their conservation needs.”

The timeline for application, ranking, and funding begins immediately. Now through Nov. 2, applications will be accepted from interested producers for this ranking period. From November through the end of December, the applications will be ranked. At the end of December, producers will be notified if their contract received funding.

“This year we are using the same ranking criteria we used last year to rank applications,” said Mike Laughrey, EQIP program manager for NRCS in Ohio. “In addition to the general EQIP program we will provide three special EQIP projects; the Appalachia EQIP project (for southern Ohio counties), the Upper Big Walnut EQIP project (Delaware, Morrow, and Knox counties) and the Forestry EQIP project (offered statewide).”

More than 1,500 applications for the last EQIP ranking period did not receive funding. Those applicants who did not receive funding during the last ranking period will need to contact their local NRCS office if they are still interested in funding through EQIP. These deferred applications will be re-entered into the ranking pool if the producer directs NRCS to do so. A range of incentive payments for structural and management practices will be offered depending on the practice. Limited resource farmers may be eligible to receive incentive payments of 90 percent.

Ohio NRCS supports the locally-led conservation effort in the delivery of conservation programs, with the USDA local work group (LWG) serving as the starting point for the development and coordination of USDA programs to provide an integrated approach for addressing local natural resource concerns.

The LWG ensures a conservation needs assessment is developed using community stakeholder’s input. Utilizing the as-sessment, process, the LWG identifies resource concerns and recommends practices, priorities, payment rates and funding needs. The group assists in multi-county coordination when resource concerns will be addressed across county boundaries.

Based on country resource assessments from LWGs, the following four national and state resource concerns have been identified as priorities for 2008: water quality (including sediment, nutrients, pesticides and livestock), soil resources (including soil quality and health), habitat recovery for at-risk wildlife species and air quality. A ranking score sheet has been developed that will address the four national and state resource concerns along with the criteria developed by each county LWG. The LWG priorities will comprise 100 of the total points in the ranking score by identifying critical practices and watersheds within the county. The state conservationist then grants final approval of county LWG ranking criteria, eligible practices, cost-share levels and payment rates. Any producers engaged in livestock or crop production on eligible land may apply for EQIP. Eligible land includes cropland, rangeland, pastureland, private non-industrial forestland and other farm or ranch lands as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.

Farmers interested in submitting an application for EQIP should contact their local NRCS office to set up an appointment and begin the application process. Applications for this ranking period will be collected until Nov. 2.

More details, including ranking sheets, forms, maps, score sheets, and technical guides, are available at www.oh.nrcs. usda.gov/programs/eqip/eqip2008

This farm news was published in the Sept. 26, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.