If you are a transitioning farmer (moving toward
organic in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd year) and are interested in applying for USDA EQIP
funds you should read on... This info was shared by Renee from OEEFA in Ohio.
If you are considering applying for EQIP this article
has some great tips.
Accessing EQIP, and responding to transitioning to
organics question
Below I'll respond to David Saunders' question about
transitioning
farmers being able to access EQIP funding. But here's the
bottom line:
If the county NRCS staff are not helpful, then call the
NRCS state
-office person who is in charge of EQIP. For Michigan
that is Garry Lee, State Conservationist at the following:
|
Garry Lee |
If you want to locate your county office in Michigan,
here is the list: (press control on your keyboard and click your mouse to follow
this link.
Also generally, don’t take “no” for an
answer until you are satisfied
with the answer you get. The National Center for
Appropriate Technology
(NCAT), through its 1-800-346-9140 (English) and
1-800-411-322 (Spanish)
toll free hot-line, can (and want to) help as well.
*_Remember many
field staff of NRCS may not know as much as you do about
this program
and special initiative._*
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
wrote a
comprehensive explanation of the EQIP organic initiative,
some of which
is included below. For (even more) detailed information
about the
program (including an explanation of the 6 core
practices, the
application process, accessing technical assistance, and
so on [pretty
much
everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-but-were-afraid-to-ask]), go
to:
http://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/conservation-environment/organic-initiative/
Best, Renee
This is our understanding about transitioning farmers:
Transitioning farmers can apply to the
program without an Organic Systems Plan in place, and the
process is
this: Farmers wanting to access the funds for transition
to organic
production through EQIP must apply through their local
District County
offices. Farmers should go into the offices and speak
with a staff
person there. If they are unable to assist you then call
the state office.
The staff person will fill out a “screening
worksheet” that determines
basic eligibility and priority of the application for
NRCS’ business tool, ProTracts. The screening worksheet will be available
from the District County offices.
In order to complete a screening worksheet, transitioning
farmers must
provide a “written self-certification” (i.e.,
a document stating their
intent to transition to organic production) to develop an
Organic
Systems Plan (OSP) and implement one or more of the Core
6 practices
and/or facilitating practices.
For priority determination the categories are as
follows:
High: Application will result in implementation of
at least three of the
“Core 6” conservation practices; OR, application
will result in
implementation of a suite of three or more “Core
6” conservation
practices”; OR, application is for development of
an EQIP Conservation
Activity Plan (CAP) Supporting Organic Transition. (A CAP
will pay for
the planning part of an Organic Systems Plan.)
Medium: Application will result in implementation
of at least two of the
“Core 6” Management Practices.
Low: Application will not result in implementation
of any of the “Core
6” Management Practices.
The application will then be ranked according to National
Ranking
Criteria. If a farmer is awarded a contract, s/he will be
in contact
with NRCS and other technical service providers to
determine how to
implement practices.
It is true that an applicant cannot receive funds for
already
established practices. However, if you seek to
improve/build on those
practices, that can still keep you in the running. So,
some tweaking can
make a difference for your eligibility.
The following is for those serious about throwing their
hats into the
EQIP funding competition--here are the
"guts"/pointers (many thanks to
NCAT and the NSAC for this guidance). Yes, it's a lot of
paperwork, and
it may take time educating the people who are signing you
up but this
can provide some great support for improvements on your
farm.
1. KNOW the program, LEARN the lingo. See ATTRA
publication Federal
Resources for Sustainable Farming and Ranching
(http://attra.ncat.org/other.html) for some general background.
2. Fill out the basic application form ASAP and get this
into NRCS
office before May 29^th ; the form is at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/PDFs/Blank_EQIP_CCC1200.pdf)
*_Even if you don’t work out subsequent details
regarding a
detailed contract you MUST get this in by the deadline to
access
program funds. So if your serious DO it ASAP._*
3. Get cumbersome eligibility requirements (explained
below) out of
the way ASAP. This is important because you don’t
want to go
through the work without knowing you are eligible AND you
don’t
want to miss deadline.
4. As stated at the beginning of this email, ASK
questions of NRCS
field staff, if they are not helpful than call the NRCS
state
office person who is in charge of EQIP (This is available
on-line
at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/ ). Also generally,
don’t
take “no” for an answer until you are
satisfied with the answer
you get. NCAT through its 1-800-346-9140 (English) and
1-800-411-322 (Spanish) toll free hot-line can help as
well.
*_Remember many field staff of NRCS may not know as much
as you do
about this program and special initiative._*
5. Make sure you evaluate the FULL extent of the changes
you wish to
make to improve conservation, meet organic certification
requirements *_AND MOST importantly to make sure you can
succeed
at organic production (IT’S NOT EASY_*)
*Basic Eligibility and FORMS*
1. If you don’t have one, get a DUNS number IF YOU
intend to apply
for more then $25,000 in benefits; this takes some time.
Online
application is at_:
http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do_
2. You must be part of the Farm Service Agency (FSA)
database and
file some level of farm records. Most commodity growers
who access
FSA program already are part of this database. A web-base
fact
sheet for accessing this is
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/july_attachment.pdf
3. Fill out the basic EQIP application form ASAP, you
will need above
to do it plus the additional forms Adjusted Gross Income
form
(CCC-902). There is an income eligibility test.
Here’s the legal
language: /A person or legal entity shall not be eligible
to
receive any benefit during a crop, fiscal, or program
year, as
appropriate, if the average adjusted gross non-farm
income of the
person or legal entity exceeds $1,000,000, unless not
less than
66.66 percent of the average adjusted gross income of the
person
or legal entity is average adjusted gross farm income.
The amount
of any payment or benefit shall be reduced by an amount
that is
commensurate with the direct and indirect ownership
interest in
the entity of each person who has an average adjusted
gross
income, average adjusted gross farm income, or average
adjusted
gross non-farm income in excess of the applicable
limitation
specified./
4. In order to be eligible a transitioning farmers must
provide a
“written self-certification” (i.e., a
document stating their
intent to transition to organic production) to develop an
Organic
Systems Plan (OSP) and implement one or more of the Core
6
practices and/or facilitating practices (see section
below on Core
6 and facilitating practices). Existing certified organic
producers will have to provide a copy of their current
Organic
System Plan (OSP) and agree to implement conservation
practices.
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