INDIANAPOLIS — USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering grants for innovative conservation strategies and technologies. NRCS plans to invest $12.5 million nationwide in the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, funding projects in four focus areas: increasing the pace and scale of conservation adoption; water quantity; pollinator habitat; and urban agriculture. Grant proposals are due July 30, 2019.
“Conservation Innovation Grants enable partners and individuals to work with NRCS on the next generation of agricultural conservation solutions,” said Jerry Raynor, Indiana’s NRCS State Conservationist. “These projects inspire creative problem-solving and have brought the agency new tools and technologies that can be used to improve our water quality, soil health and wildlife habitat.”
Raynor explains that National CIG program is different from the recently announced On-Farm Trials, which is a new CIG opportunity created by the 2018 Farm Bill. The National CIG program supports early pilot projects or demonstrations of promising conservation approaches. These grants fund the development and field testing, on-farm research and demonstration, evaluation, or implementation of conservation technologies, practices, and systems and approaches to increase conservation on private lands.
All U.S.-based non-Federal entities and individuals are eligible to apply. The complete funding announcement information can be accessed through the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants webpage. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on July 30, 2019. A webinar for potential applicants is scheduled for 12 p.m. Eastern on June 11, 2019.
To learn more about CIG in Indiana, visit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/in/programs/financial/cig/.
— Indiana Natural Resources Conservation Service
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