For Immediate Release
October 29, 2018
Contact:Laura T. Anderson, Acting Public Affairs Officer
Phone: (601)863.3922
Email: laura.t.anderson@usda.gov
Jackson, Miss., October 29, 2018 – The United State Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to help Mississippi producers, farmers and ranchers implement conservation practices.
NRCS strives to help producers and landowners enact environmentally friendly activities such as improving water and air quality, building healthier soils, improving grazing and forest lands, enhancing organic operations and conserving energy. EQIP provides financial assistance for a variety of conservation programs, which include irrigation water management, tree/shrub planting, field buffers, rotational grazing systems, and erosion control practices. All programs are voluntary and offer science-based solutions that benefit both the landowner and the environment.
“The Environmental Quality Incentives Program offers producers a variety of options to conserve natural resources on their properties,” stated Kurt Readus, NRCS State Conservationist for Mississippi. “This conservation investment helps to improve environmental health and the economy of Mississippi’s communities.”
To qualify for EQIP, an applicant must be an individual, entity or joint operation that meets eligibility criteria. Applications for EQIP and all NRCS financial assistance programs are accepted on a continuous basis with specific sign-up deadlines being established to rank, contract and fund qualified tracts of land. The deadline to sign up to be considered in the EQIP General Sign-Up is December 14, 2018.
Applicants can sign up at their local NRCS office. For more information about EQIP, visit the NRCS website: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ms/programs/financial/eqip/?cid=nrcs142p2_017159. To locate the nearest NRCS office visit: http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app
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