On August 18, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The IRA invests around $40 billion into existing The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs promoting climate smart agriculture, rural energy efficiency and reliability, forest conservation, and more. These funds will be used for programs that are well-known to farmers and ranchers and are also oversubscribed.
The IRA funds will fall under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), and the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) Program.
The USDA- Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) of North Carolina is now accepting applications for enrollment for programs under the IRA. Applications are accepted on a continuous basis, however, N.C-NRCS establishes application "cut-off" or submission deadline dates for evaluation, ranking and approval of eligible applications. To be considered for current available funding for EQIP-IRA and CSP-IRA, applicants should have their applications into the local field office by March 17,2023.
For ACEP Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE) or Wetland Reserve Easements (ACEP-WRE), applications for the current IRA funding cycle must also be submitted by March 17, 2023, for the first funding round. This year, NRCS will prioritize ACEP-ALE for grasslands in areas of highest risk for conversion to non-grassland uses to prevent the release of soil carbon stores. Meanwhile, NRCS will prioritize ACEP-WRE for eligible lands that contain soils high in organic carbon.
Applicants who wished to file under EQIP-IRA and CSP-IRA are subject to the condition that funds must directly improve soil carbon, reduce nitrogen losses, or reduce, capture, avoid, or sequester carbon dioxide, methane, or nitrous oxide emissions, associated with agricultural production. Applications under RCPP will support the implementation of conservation projects that assist agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forestland owners in directly improving soil carbon, reducing nitrogen losses, or reducing, capturing, avoiding, or sequestering carbon dioxide, methane, or nitrous oxide emissions, associated with agricultural production. Even with conditions, this will be a historic investment for conservation here in the state.
N.C-NRCS also provides other assistance through voluntary programs to eligible landowners and agricultural producers to provide financial and technical assistance to help manage natural resources in a sustainable manner. Through these programs, the agency approves contracts to implement conservation practices that addresses natural resource concerns or opportunities to help save energy, improve soil, water, plant, air, animal, and related resources on agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest land. To get started, please visit your local USDA Service Center.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. To learn more, visit usda.gov.
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