The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service has awarded a grant to Sand County Foundation to provide financial incentives for farmers who reduce erosion and protect water quality. The NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant supports the foundation's ongoing efforts to accelerate the adoption of soil health management on farmland.
The three-year grant will be used to apply performance-based conservation planning to incentivize farmers and farmland owners in eastern and central Wisconsin who implement a management change that results in a measurable environmental improvement on their farms. These climate-smart agricultural practices can include growing cover crops, reduced tillage practices, implementing nutrient management plans, and installing prairie filter strips.
"This performance-based conservation incentive approach is an innovative way to pay farmers according to the sediment and nutrients they retain on the land as a result of the conservation practices they adopt," said Dr. Heidi Peterson, Sand County Foundation's Vice President of Agricultural Conservation and Research.
Peterson called it an alternative to blanket 'pay-for-practice' incentives. She said the three-year project would target the incentives to late adaptors of conservation practices and beginning farmers.
Other key partners in the project include Green Lake Sanitary District, Tilth Agronomy, Ozaukee County Land & Water Management Department, and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.
Those interested in participating in the project can inquire via email to: tverville@SandCountyFoundation.org
Sand County Foundation is a national non-profit that works at the intersection of agriculture and environmental improvement.
Categories: Wisconsin, Sustainable Agriculture