Environmental Quality Incentives Program 2005 Sign-up

Conservation Practices

Each county in Wisconsin had different signup dates, practices and rates of cost-sharing for conservation.  Sign-up dates were set locally between January 1 and June 1, 2005.  Conservation Practices & Ranking Criteria by County for 2005.

Waste Storage

EQIP is a competitive program, with projects ranked to fund the most environmentally beneficial projects statewide.  About 20 percent of the EQIP funds that Wisconsin receives will be set aside for waste storage systems.  The statewide sign-up was held from December 1, 2004, through April 29, 2005.

Waste storage facilities will be cost shared at a rate of 70 percent.  The cost share limit for a waste storage system is $75,000.  Details about the Waste Storage Sign-up 
 

Cranberry Production

The cranberry production sign-up  ran December 27, 2004, through February 4, 2005.  Details about the cranberry production sign-up
 

Orchard Production 

Apple, cherry or other orchard crops were eligible to apply for nutrient/pest  management practices.  Sign up was February 16 through March 4, 2005.

Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMP)

Each field office scheduled a minimum of two weeks as a signup period, to be completed prior to April 15, 2005.  Funds are for development of CNMPs for animal feeding operations. 

Eligibility

Any farmer engaged in livestock or crop production on eligible land may apply for EQIP. Eligible land includes cropland; rangeland; pasture; private non-industrial forestland; and other farm or ranch lands, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.
 

What Are My Chances of Being Funded?

EQIP is a competitive program. Since program inception in 1997, demand for EQIP financial assistance has exceeded the funds available. Typically, NRCS in Wisconsin has been able to fund about 60 percent of the applicants. Because the "bid-down" procedure was eliminated, we expect cost per contract may increase. We estimate approximately two of every five applicants statewide will be successful in securing an EQIP contract this year. Since the signups for most practices are handled on a county basis, individual county results may vary from this statewide average.

Final results for this year's sign up will depend on the number of farmers who apply and the level of funding actually received.

Those applicants who are interested in waste storage should be aware that historically only one in six applications have been successful in Wisconsin.   See the results of the 2003 EQIP Sign-up and the 2004 Sign-up.

Input from Outside Groups, Agencies, and Citizens: The list of eligible practices in Wisconsin, cost share rates and limits, eligible resource concerns, and scoring criteria for waste storage were developed based on input and recommendations from the Wisconsin State Technical Committee (WSTC). The WSTC is made up of representatives from various agribusinesses, producer groups, conservation organizations, and federal, state, and tribal government agency representatives.

The list of eligible practices for the county wide signups, county scoring criteria, eligible resource concerns, and cost share rates and limits were based on input from the Local Work Groups (LWG). The LWG is made up of county agency staff. Landowners may provide advice and information to the LWG as part of the locally led process.

The priorities set at the state and county level are those that the WSTC and LWG respectively determined were of the greatest need and would have the greatest positive environmental impact. The scoring process at both the state and local level was developed in order to select those projects that would provide the greatest environmental benefit, and therefore provide the greatest public good.

See EQIP Program Policies, Manual, Wisconsin Notices and Amendments for more information on EQIP rules.

Resource Concerns Addressed by EQIP

The resource concerns addressed by applications including waste storage facilities are Surface Water Quality-Animal Waste, Organics, and Pathogens (WS2); Surface Water Quality-Nutrients (WS1); and Ground Water Quality-Animal Waste, Organics, and Pathogens (WG2).  Find out more about the resource concerns that are addressed by EQIP.
 

For More Information

If you need more information about EQIP, please contact NRCS at your local USDA Service Center, or your local land conservation department.