05/26/08 EQIP cut-off date reminder

Washington Ag May 26, 2008 Recall that earlier this year the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it was moving the cut-off date for ranking applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, EQIP, to July 15th. That was a major change from last year when the cut-off was in November. Dave Brown, NRCS Assistant State Conservationist for Programs explains why the move to July 15th for fiscal year 2009 rankings. Brown: "One of the critical things for making a good EQIP contract is having a good conservation plan to base it on. And what we are trying to go with our new cut-off date is to provide a good window of time during the field season, August, September, October, for the conservationist and the applicant to spend some time on the farm and get that good conservation plan developed. Then we can use that for the basis of our EQIP contract." In 2006 and 2007 Washington agricultural producers qualified for more than 30-million dollars in financial assistance through EQIP, which generally pays for half the costs of conservation measures and practices such as improving irrigation efficiency, reducing soil loss or managing animal waste. I'm Bob Hoff.