USDA announced in July 2024 its plans to invest $90 million in 53 Conservation Innovation Grants projects, which support the development of new tools, approaches, practices and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands. Read the news release here.
See the full list of the Fiscal Year 2023 projects below:
CIG Classic
Partner: Bishop Museum
Lead State: Hawaii
Project States: Hawaii
Amount Awarded: $697,754
Project Title: Eliminating Critical Bottlenecks to Conservation in Hawaiʻi. Developing Information Resources and an Island-wide Network of Native Seed Producers
Summary: This project will develop the Native Ecosystem Restoration Program which will incubate and support a collaborative framework for native seed distribution, host a repository of native seed data, and lead a community of practice. This project approach will link data with conservation to fill an existing knowledge gap and help to streamline conservation implementation on Oahu Island, Hawaii.
Partner: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Lead State: Oklahoma
Project States: Oklahoma
Amount Awarded: $722,057
Project Title: CNO Land Management Innovation Project
Summary: The Choctaw Nation has historically relied on traditional land management operations that hinder conservation efforts through high costs. This project will examine the cost and conservation benefits of utilizing drones to replace older methods while remaining true to tribal respect for lands. Through this program, the accuracy, cost, and effectiveness utilizing drones to broadcast seed and apply herbicide and fertilizer will be demonstrated.
Partner: Colorado Open Lands
Lead State: Colorado
Project States: Colorado
Amount Awarded: $258,220
Project Title: Accelerating Conservation to the Speed of Development: Innovating to Protect Colorado’s South Platte River Basin
Summary: In the South Platte River Basin, the purchasing of water rights for development threatens the long-term viability of the region’s agricultural economy. This project will create a financial tool to leverage water rights by implementing Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices, create water sharing opportunities, and permanently conserving Colorado’s best soils and senior water rights in agriculture.
Partner: E kūpaku ka ʻāina
Lead State: Hawaii
Project States: Hawaii
Amount Awarded: $1,253,241
Project Title: Recovering Hawaiian Kalo and ʻUala Cultivar Diversity and Indigenous Cropping Systems Knowledge: Indigenous Approaches to Climate Resilience in Agriculture and Hawaiian Food Sovereignty
Summary: This project will revive indigenous crop cultivar diversity in kalo (taro) and ʻuala (sweet potato), two culturally significant Hawaiian food crops that will provide resilience against climate change for historically underserved growers. In addition, the project will revive knowledge from Hawaiian lunar planting systems practices, an indigenous tool for improving productivity and crop quality while adapting to seasonal and climate shifts without expensive inputs.
Partner: First Nations Development Institute
Lead State: Colorado
Project States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah,
Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Amount Awarded: $2,000,000
Project Title: Engaging Native American Historically Underserved Youth in Bison Restoration and Conservation Planning
Summary: This project will engage Native American youth at the community level in restoring the American bison, a keystone species critical for the healthy function and biodiversity of ecosystems as well as for tribal cultures and food systems.
Partner: HGS LLC
Lead State: Virginia
Project States: Wisconsin
Amount Awarded: $297,261
Project Title: A Scalable Framework to Pay for Environmental Outcomes
Summary: A water quality trading program that will demonstrate how a scalable “pay-for-outcomes” program could function. They will evaluate the efficiency of paying for nutrient reduction outcomes compared to paying for practices and will reduce barriers to entry for producers to engage in the “pay-for-outcomes” program.
Partner: Kings River Watershed Coalition
Lead State: California
Project States: California
Amount Awarded: $1,021,310
Project Title: Implementing Locally-Relevant Conservation Strategies to Improve Groundwater Quality in Four Focus Areas within California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley
Summary: The goal of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate locally relevant conservation strategies to achieve water quality protection goals in four high-priority townships in the Southern San Joaquin Valley (SSJV). The strategies, tailored to meet local needs and conditions, will draw from an innovative characterization of existing practice data to identify the most effective (i.e., optimized N balance) and adoptable practices.
Partner: Koniag, Inc.
Lead State: Alaska
Project States: Alaska
Amount Awarded: $481,250
Project Title: Afognak Island Innovative Silvopastoral & Subsistence Management Project: Phase 2
Summary: An innovative public/private partnership to develop the first adaptive management silvo-pastoral grazing system for subsistence species in Alaska. In addition, innovative cost-effective reforestation & habitat enhancement methods (AI technology, infrared drones, compost and seed briqueetes) will be investigated, and subsistence species population surveys that result in decision tools for harvests.
Partner: Michigan State University
Lead State: Michigan
Project States: Michigan and Indiana
Amount Awarded: $394,608
Project Title: Enhancing Solar Energy Utilization with a Holistic Control Approach to Improve Climate Resiliency of Agricultural Energy and Water Management
Summary: This project will develop an energy monitoring system that has plug-and-play products and can be retrofitted to most existing irrigation pumps and grain dryers, ultimately improving energy efficiency.
Partner: New Mexico State University
Lead State: New Mexico
Project States: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida
Amount Awarded: $947,003
Project Title: Carbon Farming: What Do Growers Want?
Summary: The project will promote climate-smart practice (CSP) adoption through carbon farming in the Western and Southern regions of the United States. The project will elicit growers’ preferences for farming carbon using a conjoint experiment and estimate implementation costs of the most preferred CSPs. The long-term goal of this project is to enhance the adoption rate of climate-smart agricultural practices in the Western and Southern states by encouraging growers to farm carbon.
Partner: North Dakota State University
Lead State: North Dakota
Project States: North Dakota
Amount Awarded: $1,092,384
Project Title: Virtual Fencing to Support Livestock Production and Conservation of Grassland Wildlife Invertebrates
Summary: Virtual fencing is an innovative technology that is becoming available to help with herd management on grazed rangelands. This project will look at opportunities for management with virtual fencing that promotes wildlife and invertebrate habitats while maintaining healthy and productive herds.
Partner: Purdue University
Lead State: Indiana
Project States: Indiana
Amount Awarded: $418,381
Project Title: Accurate Assessment of Corn Nitrogen Status with High Spatial-spectral Proximal Sensing
Summary: Instead of measuring the leaf’s averaged spectrum, this project will explore a new algorithm to utilize both spatial and spectral information in the hyperspectral leaf image for more accurate nitrogen assessment with a new tool, LeafSpec. A fully automated robot system will also be further developed to operate this touch-based leaf scanner in the field.
Partner: Stephen F. Austin State University
Lead State: Texas
Project States: Texas
Amount Awarded: $417,493
Project Title: Demonstration of Silvopasture and the Incorporation of Biochar Production and Utilization, to Augment the Effectiveness and Mitigate Implementation Costs of
Silvopasture and Other Climate-smart Agricultural Practices
Summary: This is a silvopasture demonstration project in Texas that will integrate biochar application to benefit a silvopasture systems and livestock producers in the region. The project addresses the need for climate-smart practices as it has potential to increase carbon storage in pasture and silvopasture soils while increasing productivity.
Partner: South Dakota State University
Lead State: South Dakota
Project States: South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas
Amount Awarded: $1,997,154
Project Title: Bison, Bale Grazing, and BCS: Enhancing Capacity of Private and Indigenous Bison Producers through Train-the-Trainer Workshops and Practice Incentives for Winter Bale Grazing and Body Condition Scores
Summary: The project aims to support bison producers in the Great Plains and nearby grasslands by implementing innovative conservation practices, such as bale grazing. Over three years, the project will assess the environmental impact of bale grazing on soil and wildlife habitats and monitoring the bison health to help promote sustainable bison farming practices in the region.
Partner: South Dakota State University
Lead State: South Dakota
Project States: South Dakota
Amount Awarded: $882,368
Project Title: Wildlife, Weeds, and Wicked-Good Soil: Using a stacked no-till rotation for everyone's benefit
Summary: This project involves tracking changes in wildlife and insect populations with the conversion of 141 acres of land from a tilled, corn/soybean rotation to a no-till system using a diverse stacked rotation with grazing livestock included in the system. The goal is to provide a better habitat for wildlife and beneficial insects and be economically viable.
Partner: Sustainable Conservation
Lead State: California
Project States: California
Amount Awarded: $627,555
Project Title: Improving Water Quality by Reducing Nitrate Loss from Dairies: Demonstrating Summary: How Surplus Manure Can Be Applied Safely to Almonds Using Subsurface Drip Irrigation
Summary: The dairy manure subsurface drip irrigation system (MSDI) has been shown to improve dairy water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency on forage crops. This project will further innovate by demonstrating how MSDI can be adopted to apply surplus dairy effluent on pasteurized almonds. This would enable better dairy nutrient management,
improve water quality, and reduce needs for synthetic fertilizers.
Partner: The American Farmland Trust
Lead State: District of Columbia
Project States: Ohio
Amount Awarded: $1,064,043
Project Title: Farming for Cleaner Water - Upper Scioto River Watershed Project: Demonstrating a Payment for Ecosystem Services Program Based on the Stewardship Tool for Environmental Performance
Summary: This project will use the Stewardship Tool for Environmental Performance (STEP) to provide qualitative modeling to determine Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) to producers. The framework bases payments on outcomes, rather than the adoption of a practice, therefore ensuring payments achieve the intended result and can potentially result in higher rates than EQIP.
Partner: University of Minnesota
Lead State: Minnesota
Project States: Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota,
and Wisconsin
Amount Awarded: $1,320,416
Project Title: Enhancing Tools to Manage Phosphorus in Agricultural Fields in the Northcentral Region to Reduce the Risk Loss to Surface Waters: A Project Supporting the Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool (FRST)
Summary: This project will develop common criteria for phosphorus management guidelines from soil fertility data gathered throughout the Northcentral region. A common unbiased approach to management through combining data and research efforts would lead to more precise information on when and where fertilizer phosphorus (P) is needed.
Partner: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lead State: Nebraska
Project States: Nebraska
Amount Awarded: $682,335
Project Title: Alley Cropping as a sustainable land use strategy on agricultural lands in the US Midwest
Summary: This project seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by demonstrating alley cropping on a working land by incorporating producer and landowner preferences for tree-crop combinations that yield best case scenarios. The project team will test the resilience of alley cropping to climate change related events like drought and wildfire and investigate
policy and tax programs that favor agroforestry and alley cropping in the US Midwest.
Partner: University of North Dakota
Lead State: North Dakota
Project States: North Dakota
Amount Awarded: $701,016
Project Title: Optimizing the pollinator conservation value of seed mix used on North Dakota and Tribal lands through and Ecological-Economic planning tool
Summary: Working with three Tribal colleges, this project will develop a decisionsupporting tool to guide land manager seed mix choices based on the observed ecological efficacy and estimated economic performance to promote pollinator conservation planting adoption on Tribal lands and lands enrolling in conservation programs in North
Dakota.
Partner: Wild Farm Alliance
Lead State: California
Project States: California, Minnesota, and New York
Amount Awarded: $617,276
Project Title: Habitat Assessment Technical Beneficial Bird Resource Tool
Summary: An online tool will be created for conservation planners and farmers across the country that increases on-farm habitat and assists with supporting birds in decline. The tool will prioritize conservation practices and identify native plant species that are preferred by beneficial birds who provide pest control.
Partner: World Wildlife Fund, INC.
Lead State: District of Columbia
Project States: Iowa and Oklahoma
Amount Awarded: $750,000
Project Title: Traceable Beef for Climate and Conservation
Summary: This project will test a novel market mechanism which creates a beef emissions tracing and allocation (BETA) framework for producing beef products with verified quantitative carbon outcomes. The Framework will cover the full lifecycle footprint from pasture to feed yards to processors and by-products, creating greater opportunity for
producer recognition of and reward for sustainability improvements that benefit climate and nature.
Partner: Yaupon Holly Tea, LLC
Lead State: Texas
Project States: Texas
Amount Awarded: $1,570,148
Project Title: Managing Yaupon with Mechanical Processes in the Texas Post Oak
Savannah
Summary: This project will establish mechanical, non-chemical processes for harvesting and managing wild yaupon, an invasive woody plant, as an alternative to IPT chemical treatment in order to promote sustainable conversion of degraded rangelands into ecologically functional savannah grassland habitats.
CIG On-Farm Trials
Partner: Texas A&M AgriLife Research
Lead State: Texas
Project States: Texas
Amount Awarded: $ 4,391,045.47
Project Title: Applying Feeding Management Technologies to Foster Climate-Smart Beef
Production in Diverse Grazing Conditions
Summary: This initiative seeks to implement combined feeding management strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and optimize feed utilization for beef cattle grazing in diverse conditions. On-farm trials will be conducted in Texas, involving strategic use of proven on-farm deployable technologies such as feed additives, targeted supplementation, and refined grazing management with cattle that differ in feed efficiency. Insights from these on-farm trials will inform the development of a decision-support tool, enabling producers to adopt climate-smart feeding practices tailored to their specific operations.
Partner: Cornell University
Lead State: New York
Project States: New York
Amount Awarded: $ 4,000,000
Project Title: Enhanced Diet Formulation Strategies to Reduce Nitrogen Excretion from Lactating Dairy Cattle and Herd Level Methane Inventory Estimations to Develop a Baseline for Reduction
Summary: Recent advancements in the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) model version 7 have given Cornell University the ability to formulate diets which meet ruminal requirements for nitrogen with much more precision and allow for formulation for all essential amino acids for milk yield and milk components in high producing lactating cows. This project will incentivize adoption of feed management practices on high producing dairy herds in central NY with financial and technical assistance, while evaluating the production, environmental, economic, and social impacts of this practice. We will also share case studies and lessons learned with other dairy nutritionists, producers, and industry professionals to help foster broader adoption across the industry.
Partner: Auburn University
Lead State: Alabama
Project States: Alabama
Amount Awarded: $ 1,285,977.66
Project Title: Methane Management and More: Pioneering Sustainable Beef Production Practices in the Southeast
Summary: Through combined research and Extension programs, Auburn University has identified two methods for achieving climate-smart beef production objectives: supplemental feeding and inclusion of plant secondary metabolite-producing forbs in forage-based beef cow-calf systems. Auburn University will incentivize producers to adopt either or both practices in their operations and collect production and environmental responses to evaluate farm-level effects of these research-validated practices. Data collected will be used to update a systems dynamics model for pasture ecosystems, and this model will be used as a tool to assess farm- and region-level environmental implications of practice adoption.
Partner: Middle Tennessee State University
Lead State: Tennessee
Project States: Tennessee
Amount Awarded: $ 800,213
Project Title: Reducing Enteric Methane Production in Livestock through Herbal Feed Supplements in the Southeast U.S.
Summary: The robust livestock industry of the Southeastern United States faces growing environmental concerns related to methane, a potent greenhouse gas. This project presents a comprehensive, low-cost strategy to reduce enteric methane emissions by leveraging the beneficial properties of herbal feed supplements. By incorporating herbal feed supplements into livestock diets, the project aims to not only reduce methane emissions but also promote overall animal health and productivity. The project contributes to regional and global environmental goals by mitigating climate change and enhancing the sustainability of livestock operations in the Southeast U.S.
Partner: Texas A&M AgriLife Research
Lead State: Texas
Project States: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico
Amount Awarded: $ 2,000,000
Project Title: Technology Driven Practical Nutrition and Methane Management for Grazing land livestock producers.
Summary: This project will apply portable near infrared technology to enable efficient production of food and fiber while effectively managing methane emissions from grazing animals. Capitalizing on the relationship between ruminant diet/fecal chemistry and enteric emissions to estimate grazing animal methane output, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
will implement and evaluate practical management options on participating ranches to improve nutritional efficiency and reduce environmental effects.
Partner: New Mexico State University
Lead State: New Mexico
Project States: New Mexico, Arizona
Amount Awarded: $ 1,505,320
Project Title: Technologies to Enhance Climate-Smart Decision-Making in the Malpai Borderlands Group
Summary: NMSU, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range and USDA-Southwestern Climate Hub will collaborate with ranchers of the Malpai Borderlands Group to apply grazing land conservation tools and technologies aiming to enhance climate-smart decision making at ranch scales. Dashboards for surveillance of livestock welfare coupled with virtual fencing technology, remote sensing tools, and systems to monitor weather and livestock drinking water will be implemented across ca 800,000 acres of arid rangeland participating in habitat conservation easements, ranch grass bank programs, and landscape restoration initiatives. On-farm trials will document ecological, economic, and management tradeoffs, climate-smart decision making, and ranchers’ confidence for meeting grazing land conservation goals.
Partner: National Audubon Society
Lead State: New York
Project States: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin
Amount Awarded: $ 2,546,300
Project Title: “Grazing the Bar” for Grassland Bird Conservation with Beef and Dairy Farms in MN, IA, and WI
Summary: Audubon will customize and expand its successful 2017-CIG-supported Conservation Ranching program to beef and dairy producers to benefit grassland health, producers’ bottom lines, and grassland bird species currently in decline. This project will provide producers with enhanced financial and technical assistance for the swift uptake and deployment of these NRCS-prioritized conservation practices across 2,000 acres: 512 Pasture and Range Planting, 338 Prescribed Burning, 314 Brush Management, 382 Fence, and 516 Livestock Pipeline. Additional project elements include:
- payment to producers for each year that Audubon’s regional priority bird species are identified on-site through avian monitoring;
- a social evaluation study to probe what motivates and/or deters producers from joining this program to increase its uptake, and
- soil analysis and modeling to determine the practices’ climate smart viability.
Partner: Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
Lead State: Wisconsin
Project States: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin
Amount Awarded: $ 4,999,549
Project Title: Stimulating the Adoption of Managed Grazing Practices on Dairy Farms by Evaluating the Combined Impact of Innovative Precision Ag Technology and Data-driven Technical Assistance to Enhance Farm Profitability and Conservation Outcomes
Summary: This project will deploy PaddockTrac, an innovative and cost-effective precision Ag technology that accurately measures forage availability, on 20 small and mid-sized dairy farms in four states: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Collaborating with dairy producers who currently implement continuous grazing, these onfarm trials aim to reduce the learning curve and stimulate the increased adoption of innovative practices by providing comprehensive technical assistance, data collection, and evaluation of the economic and conservation impacts of utilizing this technology to transition to managed grazing. Project partners are Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin, Farm Financial Institute, and Water and Land Solutions LLC.
Partner: University of Hawaii
Lead State: Hawaii
Project States: Hawaii
Amount Awarded: $2,425,773
Project Title: Farmer-driven Evaluation and Adoption of an Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Weather-Based Irrigation Scheduling Tool in Hawaii via Intensive On-Farm Trials
Summary: Water is by far the major constraint to crop production for regions with high agricultural potential and value in Hawaii. Even areas with abundant rainfall experience a high seasonal variability that does not maintain adequate water for vegetable crops throughout the year. In this project, climate data from a dense network of weather stations in Hawaii will be transmitted to an innovative weather-based irrigation management technology, allowing farmers across Hawaii to take advantage of this technology. Intensive on-farm irrigation trials will be implemented at 14 collaborating farms. The results of the on-farm trials will be evaluated and presented to agricultural producers through field days and workshops to enhance the broad adoption of the developed irrigation management technology.
Partner: University of California Davis
Lead State: California
Project States: California
Amount Awarded: $ 1,380,688.00
Project Title: Water Conservation through Plant-based Irrigation Management in Walnuts
Summary: University of California Davis will implement plant-based monitoring of midday stem water potential (SWP) using manually operated pressure chambers as well as a novel automated microtensiometer sensor to schedule the first irrigation in walnuts. The practice of waiting to irrigate in the spring until SWP drops below the non-soil-water-limited (baseline) value will substantially reduce total seasonal irrigation and hence conserve water, while maintaining yield and quality. This practice may also have long term benefits for root system and soil health, as well as tree resilience to environmental stress.
Partner: Whatcom Conservation District
Lead State: Washington
Project States: Washington
Amount Awarded: $ 1,213,060
Project Title: Promoting Widespread Adoption of Weather‐driven Precision Irrigation Scheduling in Northwestern Washington
Summary: This project will promote widespread use of proven soil moisture and evapotranspiration‐based precision irrigation decision making technologies in Northwestern Washington. Whatcom Conservation District will conduct multiple case studies implementing these tools with irrigated crops, including raspberries, blueberries, seed potatoes, grass, and mixed vegetables, with priority participation of historically underserved producers. The resultant wireless producer network of 66 real‐time field‐specific soil moisture sensors will be combined with the installation of six AgWeatherNet stations to increase spatial data resolution and locally calibrate Washington State University’s Irrigation Scheduler Mobile tool. Changes in producer irrigation decision processes due to implementation of the technology will be evaluated, as well as changes in irrigation water use efficiency, time savings, and associated economic benefits.
Partner: Holmes County Prosperity Council, Inc.
Lead State: Mississippi
Project States: Mississippi
Amount Awarded: $ 2,000,000
Project Title: Introducing Innovative Energy Conservation Technologies for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers in Mississippi
Summary: The project aims to investigate hydroponic and protected agriculture systems with minimal mechanical requirements, catering to both rural and urban farmers. The primary objective of this project is to address energy resource concerns by assisting small scale, limited resource farmers in implementing energy conservation practices on their farms. Through this project, Holmes County aims to introduce innovative water conservation technologies, including hydroponic production and other protected agriculture practices, to encourage and support small-scale, limited resource farm operations. The target audience comprises beginning farmers, limited resource farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, urban farmers, and veterans in five central Mississippi counties.
Partner: GreenSky Gives Inc.
Lead State: Alabama
Project States: Alabama, Tennessee, Florida
Amount Awarded: $ 4,117,000
Project Title: Enhancing Ag Production and Sustainable Irrigation Practices for Historically Underserved Producers in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida
Summary: GreenSky Gives Inc. is led by U.S. military veterans. The project’s over-arching goal is to increase adoption of conservation practices, primarily irrigation water management technologies in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida. This project will encourage effective irrigation and demonstrate the feasibility of sensor-based technology and solar-powered irrigation systems at small to medium-scale, limited-resource group farmsteads. On-farm trials will center on the needs of historically underserved producers while using learning platforms for training, providing technical assistance, and evaluating the barriers and challenges to the widespread adoption of solar-powered pump irrigation and sensor-based irrigation practices. Evaluation will be conducted by skilled personnel ensuring historically underserved producers can effectively monitor irrigation requirements via technology enhancements.
Partner: Minority Farmers of the South
Lead State: Mississippi
Project States: Mississippi
Amount Awarded: $5,000,000
Project Title: Use data collected by drones, EQIP incentives, and careful program evaluation to enhance economic, environmental, and social conservation planning outcomes for HU producers
Summary: The project will collect data using drones, an innovative conservation approach, to support precision irrigation and nutrient management and improve economic, environmental, and social outcomes for historically underserved producers spanning over 12,000 acres in Mississippi. Collection and analysis of LiDAR or multi spectral imaging via drones can obviate the need for expensive precision leveling or soil and plant tissue analysis. Findings over the course of this three-year project will be carefully analyzed and evaluated, resulting in a case study that will inform future NRCS policy and establish best practices for historically underserved producers.
Partner: University of Minnesota
Lead State: Minnesota
Project States: Minnesota
Amount Awarded: $ 1,312,357
Project Title: Integrated Conservation Strategies to Reduce Tile Drainage Nitrate-N Losses
from Row-Crop Production at Watershed Scale
CIG Category: Nutrient Management
Summary: The University of Minnesota will implement an integrated conservation strategy at a watershed scale in Minnesota to reduce tile-drainage nitrate-nitrogen losses from corn-soybean cropping. The agronomic, economic and environmental benefits will be evaluated in comparison with a paired watershed with farmers using their traditional management practices. The integrated strategy will include: an innovative and practical satellite remote sensing-based, in-season, site-specific precision nitrogen management technology to optimize corn nitrogen management; cover crops to take up residual nitrogen in the soil after harvest; and a denitrifying bed woodchip bioreactor to further remove nitrate-nitrogen from tile drainage effluent.
Partner: Auburn University
Lead State: Alabama
Project States: Alabama
Amount Awarded: $3,997,479
Project Title: Increasing Farmers’ Adoption of Input Use Efficiency CROP Management Practices, a Step Towards a More Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture
Summary: Eight on-farm trials across major agricultural row crop production areas of Alabama will be established to demonstrate a systems approach to input use efficiency crop management. Although this project will include several crop management practices intended to strengthen environmental sustainability, the major NRCS priority targeted will be Nutrient Management. Smart Nitrogen (N) management practices demonstrated include: fertigation, use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers, tools for prediction of in-season N rate, as well as variable rate N, water and seed. Demonstrations of irrigation scheduling tools and best herbicide management will be included. Social and economic studies of barriers to adoption of the practices demonstrated will be included.
Partner: Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska for the University of Nebraska Lincoln
Lead State: Nebraska
Project States: Nebraska, Colorado
Amount Awarded: $1,116,149
Project Title: Promoting Optimized Fertilizer Nitrogen Management for Conservation Stewardship in Sugar Beet Production
Summary: In partnership with the Western Sugar Cooperative, the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) is undertaking a project to enhance the economic and environmental resilience of beet sugar production in Nebraska and Colorado. The objective of this project is to involve 50 beet growers in assessing the advantages of implementing a sugar yield-based N input model to promote profitable and sustainable beet production.
Partner: The Nature Conservancy
Lead State: Virginia
Project States: Pennsylvania, Maryland
Amount Awarded: $ 2,207,574
Project Title: Empowering Farmer Innovation to Advance Nutrient Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Summary: Through an outcome-based incentive focused on nitrogen use efficiency, this project will empower farmers to make innovative and holistic farm management decisions that result in advanced N management practice implementation, improved nitrogen use efficiency, reduced environmental N surplus, and agronomic sustainability. Trusted farm advisors will be key partners in both the planning and implementation of these practices on corn and wheat acres in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Partner: Biomineral Systems LLC
Lead State: Indiana
Project States: Arizona
Amount Awarded: $3,789,472
Project Title: Novel Highly Efficient Fertilizers & Seed Treatments for Organic Production Systems for HU Producers
Summary: This project will use novel, validated technologies of the company to manage fertilizer application in vegetable organic production systems to enable an easy and successful transition from conventional to organic production while ensuring optimal yields. These conservation innovation trials in partnership with University of Arizona and USDA-ARS will result in addressing water quantity, water quality and equity issues for the Colorado River Indian Tribes.
Partner: Carbon Chicken Project
Lead State: Arkansas
Project States: Arkansas, Oklahoma
Amount Awarded: $591, 240.54
Project Title: Carbon Negative Chicken Farming Project
Summary: Carbon Negative Chicken Farming Project promotes Carbon Negative Nutrient Management, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Regenerative Practices and the use of a poultry litter biochar Carbon Negative Soil Carbon Amendment. The Carbon Chicken Project will work with four historically underserved cattle, poultry and/or crop producers in the Illinois River Watershed to overcome environmental, social, and economic damage caused by pollutants released by poultry farmers in the region.
Partner: Texas A&M Agrilife Research
Lead State: Texas
Project States: Texas, Oklahoma
Amount Awarded: $4,999,387.00
Project Title: Soil Health Demonstrations to Increase Regenerative Agricultural Intensification in the Southern High Plains
Summary: This project aims to sustainably intensify agricultural production on the Southern Great Plains
through adopting soil health management in semi-arid cropping systems. The key objectives are to:
- identify adoption barriers to soil health management system (SHMS) and pathways to overcome them,
- demonstrate successes through implementation on farm and dissemination of knowledge of SHMS,
- increase understanding of field-level processes, effects, and optimization of agricultural intensification using SHMS,
- quantify the field and regional effects of SHMS, and
- evaluate the economics of SHMS adoption at farm and regional scales. On-farm SHMS demonstrations will be initiated on 10 innovation and 100 observation farms within the region. We expect this project will increase cover crop adoption by 20% and no-tillage by 25% in the Southern Great Plains region and, thus, agricultural production will increase by 25% while decreasing the environmental footprint.
Partner: University of Oregon
Lead State: Oregon
Project States: Oregon
Amount Awarded: $2,025,633
Project Title: Conservation cover and basalt amendments: A synergistic soil health management
Summary: A synergistic soil health management system for orchards - combining conservation cover crops and basalt dust amendments - can reduce or replace farming practices like flail mowing and liming while enhancing on-farm soil health, biodiversity, and carbon drawdown. University of Oregon will demonstrate this soil health management system at-scale across 20 farms representative of the larger Oregon hazelnut industry. By incentivizing adoption, providing technical support, and demonstrating the ecological and economic benefits of our soil health management system we aim to catalyze widespread adoption.
Partner: The United States Composting Council
Lead State: North Carolina
Project States: California, Washington, Colorado
Amount Awarded: $4,400,750
Project Title: Comparative and Ongoing Compost Application Trials to Guide and Incentivize Best Use
Summary: The US Composting Council will coordinate with leading researchers and project implementation partners to conduct 88 new SHD trials of compost application in varied production systems. The comparative trials will assess environmental, economic, and social benefits to compost application across a variety of soil types, compost types/rates, and production systems in three states: California, Colorado, and Washington. The trials will measure the agronomic, social and environmental impacts of compost on soil carbon, water holding capacity, and overall soil health; develop accessible compost application guidance for producers and technical assistance providers; and inform potential updates to NRCS guidance related to Conservation Practice Standard 336 as well as providing interoperable data to improve DayCent and MEMS models.
Partner: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County
Lead State: New York
Project States: New York
Amount Awarded: $251,122.77
Project Title: No-till soil health demo trial for agronomic crops in Orange County, NY
Summary: The no-till soil health demo trial for agronomic and horticultural crops in the Hudson Valley aims to establish economic and agronomic baselines for the no-till roller/crimper system of crop production in the trial region. This system of roller/crimping or chemically terminating fall-sown winter annual cover crops and seeding directly into the residue with no tillage has a long track record and has been proven on both conventional and organic farms in a variety of growing regions. Still, the system is virtually unused in most of the State of New York with most growers still using conventional tillage regimes. We believe that the primary reason for this is the lack of proven examples and data from the region. This situation can best be addressed with a Soil Health Demo that prioritizes farmer-to-farmer exchange of knowledge and experience.
Partner: South Dakota State University
Lead State: South Dakota
Project States: South Dakota
Amount Awarded: $1,216,770.00
Project Title: Improving Ecosystem Services and Productivity of Degraded Saline/Sodic Soils of the Northern Great Plains using Vegetation Remediation
Summary: Saline/sodic soils threaten soil health, crop yield, and economic viability of rural communities. This project will demonstrate and evaluate how annual nurse crops speed up phytoremediation of areas to perennial grasses and convert near barren areas into vibrant grasslands. The grass quality will be assessed for haying/feeding. The improvement in environmental quality measured through quantifying greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, and wildlife and pollinator habitat will be accessed.
Partner: Brighter Future Farms, LLC
Lead State: Mississippi
Project States: Mississippi
Amount Awarded: $499,441.56
Project Title: Demonstration of Organic Horticulture-Based Agroforestry Centers to Mitigate
Summary: Brighter Future Farms, LLC will utilize organic horticulture-based agroforestry concepts and practices to plant trees and crops that will promote soil health and create productive and sustainable land use practices. Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry; the benefits of Agroforestry include clean air, forest fire prevention, soil fertility, carbon sequestration, production of food and medicine, and providing shade and protection against soil, water, and wind erosion.
Partner: Owa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
Lead State: Kansas
Project States: Nebraska, Kansas
Amount Awarded: $3,660,456.00
Project Title: Nebraska Intertribal Regenerative Agriculture Project
Summary: The Center of Excellence for Regenerative Native Agriculture (CERNA) will lead the Nebraska Intertribal Regenerative Agriculture Project, comprised of tribes and Indigenous groups in Nebraska. This effort will combine traditional ecological knowledge with NRCS best management practices to grow food in ways that are healthy for people, grasslands, water, and soil. Each Tribe will host demonstration sites for grazing lands, irrigation management, and/or soil health. This project will evaluate the impacts of the ‘two eyed seeing’ approach to contemporary Indigenous agriculture. Two-Eyed Seeing refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledge and ways of knowing and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all.
Partner: Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture
Lead State: Hawaii
Project States: Hawaii
Amount Awarded: $1,169,491.00
Project Title: HIP Agriculture Soil Conservation Project: Scaling soil conservation
Summary: HIP Agriculture Soil Conservation Project will emphasize the utilization of cover cropping, Polynesian crop agroforestry, and varying composting methods to improve Hawaiʻi’s soil health, increase crop production, and build resiliency against impending climate change conditions. To maintain project stasis and ensure overall success, HIP Ag will work in collaboration with University of Hawaiʻi (Manoa), Ridge to Reefs, and Hoʽōla Farms.
Partner: Dennisur Farm, LLC
Lead State: Georgia
Project States: Georgia
Amount Awarded: $994,730.00
Project Title: Empowering BIPOC Farmers through Soil Health Management Systems
Summary: Soil Health Management Systems for BIPOC Farmers, led by Dennisur Farm, LLC, will collaborate with six BIPOC farmers to apply regenerative techniques from the Soil Food Web program by Dr. Elaine Ingham for developing Soil Health Management Systems (SHMS). This project is specifically tailored to meet the historic, cultural, and socioeconomic needs unique to BIPOC farmers, in the state of Georgia, but will also makes recommendations for adoption by farmers on a wider scale. The project will collect preliminary data, conducts trials and evaluate results by working with two sets of farms to compare soil health demos across differentiated farms. All participating producers, including the lead applicant, will undergo the Soul Food Web program training, and implement the SHD trials based on the individual farm goals and objectives.
Partner: Kentucky Agriculture Development Advocacy
Lead State: Kentucky
Project States: Kentucky
Amount Awarded: $889,748.00
Project Title: Biochar Soil Health Design and Methods for Sustainable Agriculture: A Tailored Approach for Historically Underserved, Organic, and Non-Organic Farmers
Summary: This project seeks to enhance Kentucky's agricultural sustainability, focusing on historically underserved and diverse farming communities. Through affordable innovative biochar production, applications, and collaborative on-farm trials, Kentucky Agriculture Development Advocacy aims to improve soil health, increase crop productivity, re-use waste and provide inclusion within agriculture sectors. The initiative is poised to open doors for workshops and training, deliver improved soil conditions, enriched crop yields, and bolster broader conservation and sustainability objectives in Kentucky’s agricultural landscapes.