Programs

Farm Bill

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

2004 EQIP sign-up underway - apply by March 1. Contact your local USDA Service Center.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary conservation program from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It supports production agriculture and environmental quality as compatible goals. Through EQIP, farmers may receive financial and technical help with structural and management conservation practices on agricultural land. EQIP was reauthorized in the 2002 Farm Bill and is administered by NRCS.

EQIP offers contracts with a minimum term that ends one year after the implementation of the last scheduled practice and a maximum term of ten years. Persons who are engaged in livestock or agricultural production on eligible land may participate in the EQIP program. EQIP activities are carried out according to a plan of operation developed in conjunction with the producer that identifies the appropriate conservation practice or practices to address the resource concerns. The practices are subject to NRCS technical standards adapted for local conditions.

EQIP may pay up to 75 percent of the costs of eligible conservation practices. Incentive payments may be provided for up to three years to encourage a farmer to adopt land management practices, such as nutrient and pest management. Limited resource producers and beginning farmers may be eligible for 90% cost-share. An individual or entity may not receive, directly or indirectly, cost-share or incentive payments that, in the aggregate, exceed $450,000 for all USDA program contracts entered during the term of the Farm Bill.