EQIP Provides Record $21.5 Million to Iowa Farmers in 2005

October 21, 2005

Iowa farmers received more than $21.5 million in EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) cost-share and incentive payments in fiscal year 2005, breaking last year’s Iowa EQIP record of $20.2 million. This triples the EQIP funding Iowa received in 2002 – the first year of the newest Farm Bill.

Under EQIP, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helps farmers apply conservation practices that optimize environmental benefits on working agricultural lands.

In 2005, Iowa NRCS received more than 4,000 EQIP applications; 1,467 of those applicants, or 36 percent, were awarded assistance. The 2,250 applications not funded request $35 million in EQIP funds.

“This was another great year in terms of EQIP contracts and allocations,” said Iowa NRCS State Conservationist Rick Van Klaveren. “EQIP continues to be a popular program among producers.”

Primary conservation practices applied in the 2005 EQIP include waste storage facilities, terraces, nutrient management, grade stabilization structures, prescribed grazing incentives, fences for livestock grazing systems, pesticide management and grassed waterways.

Of the $21.5 million in payments, $15.8 million, or about 75 percent, went to Iowa NRCS field offices. “The majority of the EQIP funds help implement local EQIP projects to address locally identified issues,” said Van Klaveren. 

Sixty-one contracts worth $5.1 million went to producers to treat water quality concerns from livestock open feedlots. Other notable projects to receive EQIP funding in 2005 include the Upper Iowa River Watershed ($445,000) in northeast Iowa to treat high priority resource concerns that threaten water quality in the Iowa River; Rathbun Lake Watershed ($75,000) to address water quality issues; and two grants ($126,000), one to install forested riparian buffers on organic farms and another to develop and demonstrate a grass bank system in the Loess Hills to restore lands suffering effects of overgrazing.

EQIP was originally established under the 1996 Farm Bill. It provides technical and financial assistance to landowners to voluntarily address soil, water and related natural resource concerns on private lands. NRCS provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain and improve our natural resources and environment.

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Contacts:             
Rick Van Klaveren, State Conservationist, NRCS, 515-284-6655
Larry Beeler, Asst. State Conservationist for Programs, NRCS, 515-284-4769
Dave Brommel, Resource Conservationist, NRCS, 515-284-4222

Iowa EQIP Web Page

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