Organic Incentives

 Special funds available through USDA for organic producers. Farmers involved in organic production may qualify for funds through the US Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to implement conservation practices related to organic agriculture.  Idaho Assistant State Conservationist for programs, Clint Evans said “This is the second year for the organic initiative which provides financial assistance to encourage organic producers to adopt conservation practices that improve their operations and that the benefit of the organic initiative is that it allows eligible producers to compete for EQIP benefits separately from regular EQIP funding.”

 EQIP provides financial and technical assistance to help implement practices that will conserve resources on private farm lands. Here’s Assistant State Conservationist Mark Weatherstone: “For the first time in the new 2008 Farm Bill NRCS has placed an emphasis on organic farmers or those that are transitioning to organic farming. 

 Producers can apply for financial assistance to help offset the costs of applying conservation practices to remedy existing environmental problems on their agriculture lands. The Natural Resources Conservation Service will take applications for a special EQIP “Organic Initiative” until March 12.