eNEWS
January 2010 > USDA again allocating $50 million for 2010 EQIP Organic Initiative, announces new standard for high tunnel construction
After a successful pilot year for the Organic Initiative in 2009, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has allocated $50 million to the Organic Initiative for 2010, which will again be administered through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). In addition, U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Dec. 14 that
NRCS, through the EQIP Organic Initiative and the Agricultural Management Assistance program, will fund construction of one high tunnel per farm in 38 states including Florida as part of a 3-year study on the use of high tunnels to extend the growing season.
Producers are encouraged to contact their local NRCS office as soon as possible to begin the application process and learn more about EQIP assistance for high tunnel projects. In addition to speaking with an NRCS staff person, applicants have to fill out an NRCS-CPA-1200 application to sign up officially. Applications pending from the 2009 sign up will be eligible for the 2010 sign up, and NRCS is expected to ask states to send letters to those applicants with information about their options for inclusion in 2010 sign up and any modifications they might be asked to make.
NRCS has not yet sent guidance to the states with changes and updates to the 2009 version. The 2010 guidance is likely to be released in early to mid-January, requiring states to hold a reasonable sign-up period regardless of the regular EQIP sign-up deadline. The hold-up is due in part to an analysis that NRCS is conducting on states’ effort to develop payment schedules accurate for organic and transitioning farmers.
When the 2010 guidance for the Organic Initiative is released, the full details of the application can be determined for farmers applying to that particular funding pool.
Farmer applications to this Initiative will be treated as two separate ranking pools, one for transitioning farmers without any current certified organic production, and one for existing certified organic farmers who are either adding new transitional production or adopting new conservation measures on existing organic production. In both cases, those in these special funding pools will be competing only against others in the special pool rather than in the much larger general EQIP pool. The State Conservationist in each state will decide how to split that state’s allocation between the two ranking pools.
To learn more about the EQIP Organic Initiative visit the NRCS website, call 352.377.6345 or email fog@foginfo.org.