Indiana Ag Connection - Indiana NRCS to Award $1 Million for Partner-Driven Conservation

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Indiana NRCS to Award $1 Million for Partner-Driven Conservation
Indiana Ag Connection - 11/25/2020

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) invites potential conservation partners in Indiana to submit project applications for dollars through NRCS' newest funding opportunity -- Indiana Partners for Conservation. Indiana NRCS will award up to a total of $1 million to locally driven partnerships that address natural resource issues, encourage collaboration and develop state-and-community-level conservation leadership.

"We take great pride in our partnership efforts in Indiana," said Indiana NRCS State Conservationist Jerry Raynor. "Individually, the groups that comprise our conservation partnerships have diverse knowledge in a wide range of disciplines and focus areas. But as partners, we share our unique areas of expertise in conservation work together to put more conservation on the land."

The purpose of the Indiana Partners for Conservation funding is to leverage NRCS and partner resources, assist with NRCS workload and focus on the following priority activities:

- Advance the goals of the Indiana Ag Nutrient Alliance and the Indiana State Nutrient Reduction Strategy (see https://inagnutrients.org/).

- Promote soil health to producers, landowners and/or private agronomic advisors.

- Conduct conservation planning, field practice certifications and/or follow up with producers on establishment of conservation practices.

- Provide soil scientist support and technical assistance including on-site soils investigations and staff training with an emphasis on the southwest area of the state.

- Assist with technical assistance, Farm Bill program promotion, innovative conservation approaches, evaluating conservation outcomes, demonstration farms and/or activities listed above in the Indiana portion of the Western Lake Erie Basin.

"The most successful partnership projects share four common characteristics -- they innovate, leverage additional contributions, offer impactful solutions and engage an active and effective partnership," said Raynor.

Partners may request between $30,000 and $500,000 in funding and are expected to offer value-added contributions to amplify the impact of NRCS funding by providing a 50% or greater match to the NRCS investment. Projects can be between two and five years in duration and organizations may use this opportunity to request funding for existing Indiana partnership agreements.

Indiana NRCS is now accepting proposals for the Indiana Partners for Conservation through Grants.gov at www.grants.gov/web/grants/home.html (opportunity number: USDA-NRCS-IN-IPC-21-NOFO0001037). Funding is open to local and state governments, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. The full list of eligible entities is available in the funding announcement. Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 25.

For questions regarding this opportunity, please contact Sondra Watkins, Grants Management Specialist, by email at sondra.watkins@usda.gov or by phone at: (202) 572-5848.

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