The final rule for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program has been released. For decades, EQIP has provided financial help for specific projects or installations that address natural resource concerns.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition says the EQIP rule contains a number of useful provisions to enhance the program. Positive elements of the rule include:

There are also a number of points on which the new rule represents a missed opportunity to ensure that EQIP helps small and midsize farmers and ranchers maximize their conservation benefit for generations to come, NSAC said. These include:

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“NRCS had the opportunity to help EQIP better serve farmers and ranchers and conserve resources across the country through the comments they received,” said Eric Deeble, NSAC policy director. “We appreciate that NRCS seized some of these opportunities, but we are disappointed that they passed on others, leaving us with a program that does less for our farmers and ranchers than it could.”

NSAC will continue to advocate for a program that better matches the intent of Congress and serves the farmers who are on the leading edge of addressing the climate crisis and protecting our soil and water resources.

Source: National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.