Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

EQIP is a voluntary USDA-NRCS conservation program for producers to treat soil, water and related natural resource concerns. It provides technical and financial assistance to promote environmental quality in agricultural production.

The program total cost-share and incentive payment is $450,000 per individual or entity over the life of the 2002 Farm Bill (through 2007) with a cap of $100,000 per contract per year. Practice cost-share can go up to 75%. The contracts have a minimum term of one year after the last conservation practice is installed, or 10 years maximum.

Only agricultural producers, individuals or entities engaged in livestock or agricultural production may participate in EQIP. To be eligible, producers need to comply, among other things, with the Highly Erodible Land/Wetland conservation provisions. For HEL, erosion must be reduced to minimum acceptable levels by the first year of the contract. Participants also must comply with Adjusted Gross Income provisions (AGI cannot exceed $2.5 million, with some exceptions if major portions of income are from agricultural sources).

Applications are accepted by NRCS on a continuing basis throughout the year with cutoff dates to rank, prioritize and select applicants. EQIP is a competitive program and uses an evaluation/ranking form to assess needs and cost effectiveness. Applications may be obtained at any local USDA Service Center, this website, or at www.sc.egov.usda.gov (look for form CCC-1200).

Application and Evaluation Process

With advice of the State Technical Committee (STC), NRCS in Pennsylvania identified the following natural resource concerns:

Erosion and sedimentation
Nutrient management
Water pollution from livestock farming
Wildlife habitat degradation
Odor problems from animal waste

Applications will be evaluated using a ranking system based on state resource needs and the extent to which producers are willing to make improvements. Contracts will be awarded to producers with the highest rankings until funds are exhausted. Funds are available for the following land uses: livestock/poultry production, with a subcategory of grazing, and cropland. A special effort will be conducted to promote grazing systems as natural resource and energy conserving systems. Funds will be allocated to each of these land uses, so producers interested in protecting cropland will not be competing against producers wanting to correct livestock-related problems.

NRCS field offices in Pennsylvania are organized by teams, comprised of one to six counties. EQIP funds will be allocated at the team level. NRCS Designated Conservationists have been working with the local workgroups to gather recommendations to adjust the program to local conservation needs. According to these needs and based on national and state guidelines, teams can adjust the evaluation forms and decide on the practices to cost-share making the program work more effectively in their area. Rates of 75% cost-share can be achieved if a Resource Management System (RMS) with a practice to benefit at-risk species is planned. Limited Resource Farmers and Beginning Farmers that are willing to plan & install the RMS with the wildlife practice can receive 90% cost-share.

EQIP Application and Evaluation Forms are available by using the attached Pennsylvania map

For more information contact:
Noel Soto, PA EQIP Manager, 717-237-2173, noel.soto@pa.usda.gov
Barry Frantz, Assistant State Conservationist for Programs, 717-237-2216, barry.frantz@pa.usda.gov

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