NRCS Makes $65 Million in Grants Available- Applications due October 30, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of $65 million through two funding opportunities for new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands through the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. Of this funding, $25 million will be delivered through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest clean energy and climate investment in history, which directed USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to prioritize CIG On-Farm Trials projects that use diet and feed management to reduce enteric methane emissions from ruminants, as well as other projects that have climate mitigation benefits.

Two separate CIG funding opportunities are now available on grants.gov: $50 million through CIG On-Farm Trials https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html… $15 million is available through CIG Classic https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html…

For CIG On-Farm Trials, this year’s funding priorities are:

Irrigation water management technologies

Nutrient management

Feeding management and enteric methane reduction

Grazing lands

Soil health demonstration trials

For CIG Classic, this year’s funding priorities are:

Forestry

Habitat conservation and restoration for wildlife and invertebrates

Managing agricultural lands to improve local water quality

Energy conservation

Economics

Strengthening conservation through indigenous knowledge

Strong consideration will be given to proposals that include Historically Underserved entities and individuals.

This opportunity is open to all domestic non-federal entities and individuals based in the United States for projects carried out in the U.S.

Applications are being accepted now through October 30, 2023.