The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary
conservation program managed by the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It supports production
agriculture and environmental quality as compatible goals. Through EQIP,
agricultural and forest producers may receive financial and technical help to
address resource conservation needs on eligible lands. EQIP is a competitive
program, with projects ranked to fund the most environmentally beneficial
projects at each of Maine's 15 service centers.
EQIP was reauthorized in the 2008 Farm Bill and is administered by NRCS.
EQIP provides financial assistance in the form of a fixed payment rate for
each eligible practice and activity under contract. The payment rate will be the
compensation for the program participant.
Eligibility
Any private agricultural or forest producer engaged in livestock, crop or
forest production on eligible land may apply for EQIP. Eligible land includes
cropland (including hayland), pastureland, private non-industrial forestland,
and other farm lands as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible to sign up for EQIP, the applicant must be determined
to be an eligible producer by NRCS. If you are a new USDA program applicant,
please contact your local USDA
Service Center for information on eligibility requirements. If you have been
a USDA program participant in the past, please contact your local USDA Service
Center to review and update your information.
The land offered for EQIP must also be determined eligible by NRCS. Eligible
land under the EQIP program is land that has a resource concern identified by a
certified conservation planner that can be addressed through application of the
conservation practices eligible for this signup period.
The participant must complete and sign all necessary forms including the
CCC-1200 (which is the official application). Financial assistance is contingent
on the producer not starting a practice prior to having an approved EQIP
contract signed by the appropriate NRCS representative.
Input from Outside Groups, Agencies, and Citizens
A key component of the delivery of EQIP in Maine is the input and
recommendations of both the Maine State Technical Committee and each of the 15
USDA Local Working Groups. Their input will ensure that state and local priority
resource concerns will be reflected along with national priorities in delivering
EQIP.
The list of eligible practices for the county-wide signups, county ranking
criteria, eligible resource concerns, and payment rates and limits are based on
input from the USDA Local Working Group. Local Working Group membership should
be diverse and focus on agricultural interests and natural resource issues
existing in the local community. Membership includes agricultural producers
representing the variety of crops and livestock and/or poultry raised within the
local area; owners of nonindustrial private forest land, as appropriate;
representatives of agricultural and environmental organizations; and
representatives of governmental agencies carrying out agricultural and natural
resource conservation programs and activities.
Locally-Led Conservation Program Delivery
Each USDA Local Working Group in Maine has contributed to a resource
assessment and identified resource concerns and conservation priorities in its
specific area. Based on that assessment, objectives for the use of EQIP funds
have been determined. Each USDA Local Working Group has input in the ranking
worksheet and has an opportunity to add local ranking factors that reflect the
locally-identified natural resource concerns along with national and state
priorities.
Application Process
Application information and details about
eligible practices and payment rates are available by USDA Service Center
Area. Applications for enrollment in EQIP are accepted on a continuous basis.
However, each year a sign-up cutoff
date will be established in order to batch a group of applications together
for funding consideration in a given year. Applications that are received after
the established cutoff date will be considered for the following funding year.
Applications are then screened using an established set of
screening questions. Applications which pass the screening will be marked as
high priority, ranked and considered for funding. Applicants whose applications
do not pass the screening will be contacted and informed what they may need to
do to make their application eligible for funding consideration in future
sign-ups. Landowners with high priority applications will be contacted by the NRCS field staff for the purpose of gathering data to rank the application.
Typically this will involve a field visit.
Agricultural producers accepted into EQIP will enter into a contract with
NRCS. EQIP offers contracts for practice implementation from one to ten years.
These contracts provide financial assistance for implementing conservation
practices. Additionally, producers will be responsible for securing all
necessary permits and NRCS will complete environmental and cultural resource
reviews before an EQIP application moves forward into the contracting phase.
Ranking Criteria
Ranking of applications will be done in each of Maine's 15 USDA Service
Center areas. The NRCS field staff will evaluate each eligible application. The
ranking criteria have been developed with input from the State Technical
Committee plus the USDA Local Working Group and will reflect National, State and
local priorities. Maine's ranking criteria keys on Field Office Technical Guide
resource concerns and quality criteria. Evaluation and ranking of applications
will only be completed after NRCS field staff has completed the conservation
planning process with a landowner. Higher priority will be given to applications
that use cost-effective conservation practices, address national, state and
local priority resource concerns, and provide long-lasting, environmental
benefit.
Eligible Conservation Practices
Designated Conservationists, with input and recommendations from the USDA
Local Working Group, have identified eligible practices and determined rates of
payment rates for eligible practices.
Allocation of Funds
Program allocations are made to each of the 15 USDA Service Centers.
Allocations are determined by a formula which takes into account three factors.
These are; 1. the total demand in dollars of all ranked applications as a
proportion of the total state demand, 2. the total number of landowners
represented by those applications as a proportion of the entire state, and 3.
the implementation rate of prior year contracts relative to the state’s
implementation rate. . Funds are allocated into locally-identified resource
pools. These include: Cropland, Pasture, Animal Waste, Forestry and Wildlife.
Other resource areas may be included if recommended by the USDA Local Working
Group. Each of these will represent its own pool for ranking and selection
purposes.
At the Service Center level, each USDA Local Working Group will recommend
funding targets (as a percent of their total allocation) for each of the
resource concern areas being addressed at their locale.
In addition to the county level allocations, state-wide funding for National
and State initiatives will be announced from time to time. The application and
ranking process will be identical to the county level program delivery except
that the timelines may be different.
Biosecurity Issues
All NRCS personnel entering the farm, as a minimum, will wear disposable
footwear while on site. At the end of the visit the footwear will be left at the
site at a location of the producer's choosing for proper disposal to prevent any
contamination. NRCS employees will implement additional biosecurity practices as
required by the producer’s biosecurity plan.
< Back to Programs...
About Us
Back to Top