Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to eligible agricultural producers who are willing to address priority environmental issues by implementing conservation practices. It is administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Local Focus Areas

New York assists producers through the EQIP to address specific locally identified resource concerns. To address the local concerns, the state is divided into seven watershed regions. Each watershed has up to three “local focus areas” which address high priority natural resource concerns with unique local ranking criteria, and separate funding pools.

• Cropland
• Grazing
• Livestock Waste

EQIP Initiatives

There are several specific initiatives and unique funding opportunities now offered under EQIP in New York. For detailed information on each EQIP initiative, see below.

• Air Quality Initiative
• Anaerobic Digestion Initiative New!
• Conservation Activity Plans (CAP)
• Energy Initiative
• Forestry Initiative
• National Water Quality Initiative New!
• Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC)
• Organic Initiative
• Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative

Regional Programs

NRCS New York has program opportunities using EQIP funding or EQIP authorities available in specific regions or watersheds of the state. Each regional opportunity addresses critical natural resource concerns that have been identified in the multi-state efforts.

• America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) – Lake Champlain Watershed
• Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative (CBWI)
• Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)
• New England-New York Forestry Initiative

How to Apply for USDA-NRCS Conservation Programs

Learn what steps you will need to take to prepare for, and submit, your application to become a USDA-NRCS Conservation Program participant.

Learn more information on the criteria required to become an eligible EQIP applicant.
 

The following documents require Adobe Reader. NRCS-CPA-1200 Conservation Program Application (PDF; 128 KB) Includes appendix

EQIP Projects in New York

New York Dairy Completes Large Scale Conservation Project

For additional information, contact or visit your local USDA NRCS office, or visit the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program Web page.

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