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:

 

USDA NRCS STATE OFFICE

MICHIGAN STATE OFFICE

3001 COOLIDGE RD

EAST LANSING, MI 48823-6349

(517) 324-5100

(517) 324-5168 fax

Michigan NRCS State Office

Garry Lee
State Conservationist
(517) 324-5270
(517) 324-5171 fax
[log in to unmask]

 

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.

http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?service=action/1/ServiceCenterSummary/3/NavBar.CompleteOfficeLink

 

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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