NRCS Announces First Iowa Conservation Innovation Grants

Sept. 15, 2004

Des Moines, Iowa--Merlin Bartz, Regional Assistant Chief for the Central Region of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), announced today the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Fayette County Extension office are the first Iowa groups to receive Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) from NRCS.

CIG, part of the 2002 Farm Bill, are awarded to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. The technology-transfer program helps leverage Federal investment, because government dollars must be matched at the local level. It is open to public and private entities as well as individuals.

Iowa CIG amounts are as follows:
Iowa Cattlemen’s Association--$415,000 to study non-basin technologeis for open feedlot runoff;
Iowa Soybean Assocation--$1 million to study outcomes-based nitrogren efficiency for corn producers;
Fayette County Extension--$90,600 to study recycling digested manure solids from dairy operations.

Bartz also announced that American Farmland Trust received a multi-state grant which includes Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. This grant for $191,800 will be used to research nutrient management and strip-till systems for corn production.

“These innovative ideas, put to work with help from the Conservation Innovation Grants program, will benefit our staff and customers by helping us provide more leading edge solutions to today’s conservation issues and challenges,” said Rick Van Klaveren, Iowa NRCS State Conservationist. “And ultimately it is the people of Iowa who will benefit from the cleaner water and air produced in part by the technology developed and implemented through these first Iowa Conservation Innovation Grants.”

NRCS administers the grants as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  Nationally, nearly 150 project proposals were submitted from eligible governmental and nongovernmental organizations and individuals for single or multi-year projects involving producers who qualify for EQIP.  Selected projects address issues such as agricultural air emissions, water quality improvement, water management, livestock nutrient management and market-based approaches to conservation.

Grant recipients include 13 universities, 10 nongovernmental organizations, eight agribusinesses, four state governments, two resource conservation and development councils, two conservation districts and two individuals.  Selected proposals receive grants for up to 50 percent of the total project cost and must provide nonfederal matching funds for at least 50 percent of the project cost.  The federal contribution may not exceed $1 million for a single project. 

More information about CIG can be found at the NRCS website at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/

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CONTACT:
Laura Greiner, NRCS Communications Specialist, 515-323-2207
Mick Kreidler, ICA Communications Director, 515-296-2266
Mick Lane, ISA Research Communications Coordinator, 515-251-8640

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