[Pollinator] FW: USDA Awards Funds to Improve Conservation on Agricultural Lands

Tue Sep 10 13:05:25 PDT 2013

TO:       Pollinator Mailing List

FROM:  Ray S. McAllister, PhD
Senior Director, Regulatory Policy
CropLife America
202-872-3874 (office)
202-577-6657 (cell)
ray at croplife.us<mailto:ray at croplife.us>

See the Pheasants Forever grant, highlighted below in yellow.  The full list of 33 grant recipients (linked below) includes another three pollinator related projects.  See the summaries of all four projects at the bottom of this message.  How many of the remaining projects could incorporate pollinator activities into what is already planned?

From: USDA Office of Communications [mailto:usda at public.govdelivery.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 3:17 PM
To: Barbara Glenn
Subject: USDA Awards Funds to Improve Conservation on Agricultural Lands

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Release No. 0174.13

Contact:

Sarah Maxwell (202) 720-0693

USDA Awards Funds to Improve Conservation on Agricultural Lands

Conservation Innovation Grants to help improve technologies and approaches for natural resource conservation on private lands

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2013 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the award of 33 Conservation Innovation Grants awarded to entities across the nation to develop and demonstrate cutting-edge ideas to accelerate private lands conservation. Grant recipients will demonstrate innovative approaches to improve soil health, conserve energy, manage nutrients and enhance wildlife habitat in balance with productive agricultural systems. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service administers this competitive grants program.

"Conservation Innovation Grants activate creativity and problem-solving to benefit conservation-minded farmers and ranchers," Vilsack said. "These grants are critical for developing and demonstrating new ideas for conservation on America's private lands and strengthening rural communities. Everyone relies on our nation's natural resources for food, fiber, and clean water and will benefit from these grants."

"The Conservation Innovation Grant program brings together the strength and innovation of the private and non-profit sectors, academia, producers, and others to develop and test cutting-edge conservation tools and technologies and work side-by-side with producers to demonstrate how solutions work on the land," NRCS Chief Jason Weller said.

As climate changes, extreme weather events are becoming more common, these partnership grants drive cutting-edge conservation techniques that can make our nation's landscape more resilient to these changes.

The awards total $13.3 million. Six of the approved grants support conservation technologies and approaches to help farmers and ranchers who historically have not had equal access to agricultural programs because of race or ethnicity, or who have limited resources, or who are beginning farmers and ranchers.

The 33 grants announced today include:

 *   U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities: A grant of $700,000 to demonstrate sustainable forestry technologies and create a support system and market access for historically underserved landowners in South Carolina, North Carolina and Alabama;
 *   Wes-Mon-Ty Resource Conservation and Development Council: A grant of $49,000 to demonstrate the use of low-cost technology on a demonstration farm to expand cover crop adoption by historically underserved, small-scale specialty crop producers in West Virginia;
 *   Pheasants Forever: A grant of $631,218 to explore and demonstrate ways to integrate pollinator habitat into bioenergy crop production systems;
 *   University of Tennessee: A grant of $634,107 to quantify and demonstrate the long-term impacts of cover crops, crop rotations and no-till farming systems on soil health and crop productivity;
 *   Conservation Technology Information Center: A grant of $482,000 to work with farmers in the Midwest to examine and share the economic, agronomic and environmental benefits of cover crops; and,
 *   National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: A grant of $821,324 to demonstrate and expand the use of manure injection technology in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which can significantly reduce nutrient losses from animal agriculture production systems.

A full list of recipients is available here<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTMwOTEwLjIyODA3ODQxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDEzMDkxMC4yMjgwNzg0MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3NzY3NTU3JmVtYWlsaWQ9YmdsZW5uQGNyb3BsaWZlYW1lcmljYS5vcmcmdXNlcmlkPWJnbGVubkBjcm9wbGlmZWFtZXJpY2Eub3JnJmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&101&&&http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/cig/>.

The grants are funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Grantees must work with producers and forestland owners to develop and demonstrate the new technologies and approaches.

At least 50 percent of the total cost of CIG projects must come from non-federal matching funds, including cash and in-kind contributions provided by the grant recipient.

NRCS has offered this grant program since 2004, investing in ways to demonstrate and transfer efficient and environmentally friendly farming and ranching. In the past nine years, the grants have helped develop trading markets for water quality and have shown how farmers and ranchers may use fertilizer, water and energy more efficiently.

Secretary Vilsack said today's announcement is another reminder of the importance of USDA programs to rural America. A comprehensive five-year Food, Farm and Jobs Bill would further expand the rural economy, Vilsack added, saying that is just one reason why Congress must get a comprehensive Bill done as soon as possible.

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Bat Conservation International, Inc (CA, NV, CO, AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR) $139,495
Connecting Farmers & Ranchers to Innovative Technology in Bat Conservation
Bats are one of the most ecologically and economically important wildlife taxa worldwide, and also one of the most threatened. Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects, consuming countless agricultural and forest pests nightly and directly reducing pesticide use, while preventing North American agricultural losses estimated at more than $3.7 billion per year. Project activities will bring bat conservation technologies, skills, and knowledge to partners and producers, simultaneously improving outcomes for pollinating and pest-consuming bat species in the United States with specific benefits to agricultural production. Comprehensive outreach will be conducted in eight targeted states with a collection of sound, tested, innovative bat conservation best practices for wind energy development, biofuel crop production, mine/well closures, wildlife habitat monitoring, water for wildlife, and integrated pest management.

Cape Atlantic Soil Conservation District (NJ) $91,705
Expanding Pollinator Species Habitat Sites Utilizing Compost Filter Socks
Decline of pollinator species such as the honeybee can have far reaching impacts on plant pollination and crop production. Often, farmers have a difficult time finding a plot of land on their farm suitable for creation of pollinator habitat without losing valuable agricultural production land. The time and energy cost it takes to prepare a field to plant a wildflower seed mix can also be prohibitive. The Cape Atlantic Soil Conservation District will expand or enhance pollinator species habitat areas by taking the technology of establishing a grass cover with vegetated compost filter socks and adapting it to establish on-farm pollinator habitat areas with native wildflowers.

Conservation Technology Information Center (IA, IL, IN, MI, OH, MN, SD) $482,000
Economic, agronomic and environmental benefits of cover crops for new and established users
Producers plant grasses, legumes, brassicas and/or small grains between regular primary crop production periods to gain multiple conservation and sustainability benefits, including the protection and improvement of soil and water quality and improvement of wildlife and pollinator habitat. These cover crops offer many potential benefits to farming operations and the communities that surround them. Incorporating cover crops into farming systems incurs economic and management costs that may discourage some producers from adopting the conservation practice. Farmers must evaluate any practice for its contributions to the productivity, profitability and sustainability of their operations. This project will draw on data from a wide variety of cover crops planted in seven Midwest states – Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, southern Minnesota and South Dakota – and draw upon the insight of growers with a range of experience with cover crop management. The costs and benefits of cover crops will be assessed with proven tools, from mathematical models and cost/benefit assessments to nitrogen rate strip trials, documentation of pollinators in project fields, and extensive communications with participating producers on their choices and decision-making processes. At least 1,000 acres of cover crops will be planted on farms with no previous cover crops. Results and insight from the project will be shared throughout the Midwest via an annual workshop, detailed articles in leading farm magazines reaching more than 350,000 Midwest producers, and printed and online resources, including a Best Practices booklet and fact sheets.

Pheasants Forever, Inc. (VA) $631,218
Integrating Pollinators into Bioenergy Crops
The dramatic decline of native and managed pollinator populations has been well documented in the past decade. Population declines are attributed to several factors, but chief among them is the continued loss of specific pollinator habitat needs. The establishment of pollinator field borders associated with dedicated energy crops is not a common practice that is currently used or promoted. This project will help determine the pollinator habitat value differences between placing the habitat on unharvested field edges vs. incorporating throughout a field that will be harvested for dedicated energy crops. This project will begin to address the critical pollinator habitat needs by integrating pollinator habitat into bioenergy production fields. Pollinator habitat will be designed and established using seeding mixtures designed to produce: 1) A diversity of flowering species throughout the entire growing season; 2) Species with different size, shape and color of flowering parts; 3) Habitat structures that provide access to bare ground for native pollinator nesting sites.

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