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Benton County EQIP

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary conservation program of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality. This program is available to farmers and offers financial and technical assistance to install or implement structural and management practices on eligible agricultural land.

The following are Benton County Resource Concerns to be addressed by EQIP:

  • WATER QUALITY: Excessive Nutrients and Organics in Surface Water; Excessive Nutrients and Organics in Groundwater Harmful Levels of Pesticides in Surface Waters; Harmful Levels of Pesticides in Groundwater; Harmful Levels of Pathogens in Surface Water; Excessive Suspended Sediments and Turbidity in Surface Water

  • SOIL EROSION: Sheet and Rill; Ephemeral Gully; Classic Gully; Streambank; and Shoreline

  • PLANT CONDITION: Productivity, Health, and Vigor; Noxious and Invasive Plants; Forage Quality and Palatability

  • FISH AND WILDLIFE: Inadequate Food; Inadequate Cover/Shelter; Inadequate Water; Plant Community Fragmentation; Threatened and Endangered Species

  • AIR QUALITY: Chemical Drift; Undesirable Air Movement; Adverse Air Temperature; Excessive Greenhouse Gas (CO2 and N20); Objectionable Odors: Particulate Matter Less Than 10 Micrometers in Diameter; Particulate Matter Less Than 2.5 Micrometers in Diameter

  • DOMESTIC ANIMALS: Inadequate Quantities and Quality of Feed and Forage; Inadequate Stock Water; Stress and Mortality; Inadequate Shelter

  • SOIL CONDITION: Damage from Soil Deposition; Organic Matter Depletion; Compaction; and Subsistence

  • WATER QUANTITY: Excessive Runoff, Flooding, or Ponding; Excessive Seepage

These resource concerns address the following National EQIP priorities:

  1. Reduction of non-point source pollution, such as nutrients, sediment, pesticides, or excess salinity IN IMPAIRED WATERSHEDS CONSISTENT WITH Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), where available, as well as the reduction of groundwater contamination and reduction of point sources such as contamination from confined animal feeding operations.

  2. Reduction in soil erosion and sedimentation from unacceptable high levels on agricultural land.

  3. Promotion of at-risk species habitat conservation.

  4. Reduction of emissions, such as particulate matter, nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds, and ozone precursors and depleters that contribute to air quality impairment violations of National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

The goal of the locally led group was to recommend a ranking system that rewarded and gave priority to those producers that help most to address the above resource concerns, inclusion within priority watersheds, inclusion within proposed SWCD/EQIP projects, and inclusion within a watershed above a public lake. The ranking will be completed for the specific practices to be applied through the EQIP contract. Sign-up is continuous at the NRCS field office. The ranking of the applications will be done periodically as funding allocations become available, will be announced through the NRCS State Office, and will be publicized by all levels of NRCS. The NRCS may establish local, minimum ranking cut-off levels for funding selection.

The local work group also recommended a list of conservation practices that are the most cost-effective, longest duration, and help most to address these priority resource concerns in the District.

For more information on EQIP and other NRCS administrated programs, contact the Benton County USDA Service Center located at 1705 West D Street, Vinton, IA  52349. Phone (319) 472-2161, ext. 3. Fax (319) 472-4649.

The following files require Acrobat Reader.

EQIP Practice List - 2008    New!
EQIP Application Ranking - 2008    New!
 EQIP Nutrient Management Intensity Options - 2008    New!

 EQIP Practice List - 2007    For Archival Purposes Only
EQIP Application Ranking - 2007    For Archival Purposes Only

 EQIP Practice List - 2006    For Archival Purposes Only
EQIP Application Ranking - 2006    For Archival Purposes Only
EQIP Nutrient Management Intensity Options - 2006   For Archival Purposes Only

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