Are You EQIP'd?

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is again offering the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  EQIP is a voluntary conservation program that offers financial and technical assistance to help implement conservation practices on eligible acres.  EQIP was designed to help implement conservation practices that address an area of concern.  Payments rates will vary based on the practice you choose and the length of your contract. You will not be paid more than $300,000 over a six year period, with the exception of organic farms that follow a different payment schedule.

So what does all that mean?

I’ve broke down a few of the practices below

·         Conservation Crop Rotation

While this may seem pretty simple, adding a small grain like wheat to your corn/bean rotation is more than just a decision that should be made by looking at the CBOT.  In this instance by adding wheat to your rotation you are now helping to reduce wind erosion, improve soil quality, better manage the balance of plant nutrients, conserve water and manage plant pest to name a few. 

Another crop to consider is adding 2 years of perennials to your rotation.  While I don’t think of hay as a rotation crop the benefits are similar to the ones listed above on wheat but by adding this you have also added a feed for you or someone else’s livestock.  And yes while you might not want the hay, others are paying upwards of $10/bale because of the drought.

Payments for this type of conservation practice vary depending on what you choose to do and if you are an organic farmer, but ranges from $75- $940/acre.  Again, this is a range your payments would vary.  Also you are only paid on the acres that the crop is grown in the years that you grow it.  So your contract may be for 300 acres over 5 years but you only put wheat in 100 acres every third year, you would get paid for 100 acres.

·         Residue and Tillage Management

There are a couple different options on this all with varying cost share amounts.  The first includes No Till/Strip Till.  The purpose of doing this is to help reduce erosion, improve soil organic matter, increase plant available moisture and even provide food/cover for wildlife.  Continuous No Till or Strip Till must be done for the life of the contract, no Rotational No Till.  In order to receive payments for this type of practice, a conversion from more intensive tillage system you are currently using to a less invasive system must occur.  A couple examples could include, converting from a chisel/disk system to No Till or converting from rotation No Till to continuous No Till.  Vertical tillage does not meet the requirements for this practice.

Another option to manage your residue and tillage is as easy as changing when you do your field work.  By changing your fall work to spring work, you are helping to reduce erosion from the wind along with providing food/cover for wildlife and the residue helps to manage the snow which will increase plant available moisture.  By changing your tillage practices you can also prevent excessive soil loss.  Think about it land values are going up, do you really want your soil just blowing away?

The last residue and tillage management practice is Mulch Till.  Like the rest of these practices the benefits to the land include reducing erosion, improving soil quality and increasing plant available moisture.  This includes vertical tillage and requires 30% residue coverage.

·         Cover Crops

The last practice that I will cover in this blog post is cover crops.  There are many places to find more information on which cover crop is right for your operation and what they have done for other operations, including here, here, and here.  Don’t forget that if you are interested in going to the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference, there are grants available to help cover your costs. (Remember this post)  If you haven’t heard a few of the benefits that cover crops offer, reduced erosion, increased soil organic matter, helps to capture and recycle nutrients in the soil, suppress weeds and manage soil moisture.

A few last things to remember:

·         You must fill out an application for EQIP, this can be done thru your local NRCS office.  In Wood County we are located at 1616 E. Wooster St. in Bowling Green, across from the License Bureau.

·         For more information or questions please call 419-354-5517 or toll free at 1-800-943-6372.