Fayette 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 Fayette County resource concerns to be addressed by EQIP:

1. Soil Erosion – Sheet and Rill; Ephemeral and Classic Gully

2. Soil Condition – O.M. Depletion; Contaminants - Animal Waste & Other Organics (N, P, K)

3. Water Quality – Excessive Nutrients & Organics in Surface Water; Excessive Suspended Sediment & Turbidity in Surface Waters; Excessive Nutrients & Organics in Groundwater

4. Plant Condition – Productivity, Health & Vigor; Forage Quality & Palatability

5. Domestic Animals – Inadequate Quantities and Quality of Feed and Forage; Inadequate Stock Water

6. Fish and Wildlife – Inadequate Food; Inadequate Cover/Shelter; T&E Species

These resource concerns address the following National EQIP priorities:  

1. Reduction of non-point source pollution, such as nutrients, sediment, and reduction of point source pollution, 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

Fayette County has many priority watersheds which are based on a variety of criteria.  They are:  Nutting Creek, Glovers Creek, Otter Creek, Volga Lake aka. Frog Hollow, Mink Creek, Grannis Creek, Bear Creek, South Fork Maquoketa, Upper Maquoketa, and Ensign Hollow watersheds. 

The goal of the locally led group was to recommend a ranking system that rewarded and gave priority to those producers that address the above resource concerns. The local work group felt that the best approach to ensure comprehensive, consistent distribution of cost share funds was to establish two sets of ranking criteria and funding accounts to address ag waste practices separately from all other soil and water practices. In this way, applications will be ranked and funded against similar applications. 

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. Application ranking 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 address these priority resource concerns in the district.

Fayette County has made the policy that new livestock operations will not be eligible projects for EQIP.  However applications will be accepted for any and all projects.

For more information on EQIP and other NRCS administrated programs contact the Fayette County USDA Service Center located at 120 N. Industrial Pkwy, Ste. 2, West Union, IA  52175. Phone (563) 422-3868, ext.3. Fax (563) 422-3961.

The following files require Acrobat Reader.

EQIP Practice List - 2009
EQIP Application Ranking - 2009   

EQIP Practice List - 2008    For Archival Purposes Only
EQIP Application Ranking - 2008    For Archival Purposes Only

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

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