09/25/07 EQIP deadline moved up

Washington Ag September 25, 2007 USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced that November 2nd is the application deadline for Washington producers interested in participating in the popular cost-share Environmental Quality Incentives Program or EQIP. That deadline is two weeks earlier than last year. NRCS Assistant State Conservationist Dave Brown says they believe it would serve the people of Washington best by obligating any new EQIP funds as early in the fiscal year as possible. Brown: "Even though we have a November 2nd deadline I would encourage interested producers to come in just as soon as they can. There are some issues with eligibility that some producers occasionally face in making sure they have all the right information into USDA so we can certify them as eligible for our program and we need to have all that done by November 2nd." Brown says information on ranking questions, eligible practices lists and so forth will be available on the Washington NRCS web site October 8th. Last year Washington producers qualified for more than 16-million dollars in cost-share assistance through the voluntary EQIP program, which funds such conservation practices as improving irrigation efficiency, managing animal waste and reducing soil loss. I'm Bob Hoff.