Nebraska NRCS State Conservationist Craig Derickson is encouraging farmers and ranchers to sign up prior to October 16 for their Environmental Quality Incentive Program or EQIP. He says while they have a continuous sign up, to be eligible for this round, producers need to come in before the October deadline.
Derickson says EQIP is their most popular program and this year 300,000 acres were put into the program. He says they normally write as many as 1200 individual contracts. Derickson says there are a variety of practices that can be used under EQIP.
Derickson says once the field offices rank and evaluate the contract offerings after October 16, then those awarded contracts will be notified early next year.
The goal of EQIP is to provide a financial incentive to encourage landowners to install conservation practices that protect natural resources, resulting in cleaner air and water, healthy soil and more wildlife habitat.