For more information, please follow this link: https://www.nfwf.org/programs/conservation-partners-program/conservation-partners-program-january-2022-request-proposals

PROGRAM PRIORITIES

The Conservation Partners Program will fund projects that provide agricultural producers with technical assistance to adopt regenerative agriculture systems and conservation practices on their working lands. Grant recipients will hire or otherwise support field conservation professionals who will help producers develop and implement economically sound approaches that achieve positive environmental outcomes.

Competitive projects will increase participation in Farm Bill programs as one way to advance regenerative agriculture principles. Some of these principles include: 1) minimizing chronic disturbances to the soil and biological community; 2) maximizing diversity of plants and animals; 3) keeping the soil covered; 4) keeping a living root in the ground at all times; and 5) efficiently managing water resources. Grant recipients will apply these principles to support producers in developing and advancing holistic approaches that simultaneously improve performance of agricultural operations and ecosystem functions.

The Conservation Partners Program encourages projects that foster participation by diverse local community members and community-based organizations. Incorporating local input into project design, integrating traditional ecological knowledge, and working collaboratively with diverse partners toward optimal solutions are some of the ways projects can ensure alignment among individual producer objectives, broader community priorities, and desired conservation outcomes.

The Conservation Partners Program will support projects that:

  • Direct staff resources to help agricultural producers design and implement regenerative agriculture systems and practices.
  • Increase Farm Bill program participation and conservation practice implementation among agricultural producers, including farmers and ranchers in the Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis categories.
  • Generate environmental benefits, such as improvements to wildlife habitat, soil health, and water conservation and quality.
  • Sequester and store carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase resilience to impacts of climate change.
  • Promote conservation systems that complement/advance producer economic interests and operation performance
  • Equip agricultural producers with information and data management capabilities to access ecosystem service markets
  • Foster community learning to advance regional knowledge and adoption of regenerative agriculture systems and practices.

Competitive projects will promote approaches that best align with the key objectives identified for each of the five program priority categories described below. Key strategies within these categories include:

  • Grazing management: Promote plant growth above and below ground, improve wildlife habitat, and maximize soil carbon by establishing native grasses, optimizing stocking rates, livestock rotations, utilization rates, and plant rest and recovery.
  • Crop management: Improve water quality and maximize soil carbon by increasing adoption of cover crops, reduced tillage, diversified crop rotations, perennial cropping systems, nutrient management plans, precision agriculture, and other soil health practices.
  • Irrigation improvement: Improve hydrology, in-stream flows, aquifer recharge, and flood/drought resilience by increasing efficiency of on-farm irrigation practices and reducing agricultural runoff.
  • Habitat enhancement: Enhance habitat values of working grasslands, field buffers, forests, wetlands, riparian zones, floodplains and other adjacent areas through native plantings, removal of invasive species, beneficial mowing, prescribed burning, fencing and other conservation practices.