New York Natural Resources Conservation Service announces Feb. 3, 2017, as the application cutoff date for Signup 1 of the Conservation Stewardship Program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017.
The CSP is the largest working lands conservation program in the United States. Through CSP, agricultural producers and forest landowners earn payments for actively managing, maintaining, and expanding conservation activities like cover crops, rotational grazing, ecologically-based pest management, buffer strips, and pollinator and beneficial insect habitat – all while maintaining active agricultural production on their land.
“This year’s CSP sign-up is particularly noteworthy, as it is the first year that major programmatic changes will be in place after two years of intensive planning by USDA,” said Gregory Kist, NRCS State Conservationist “NRCS NY is looking forward to rolling out the new and improved CSP program to our participants.”
Applications accepted after Feb. 3, 2017, will only be considered in FY2017 if additional application rounds are announced. Applications not funded in FY2017 will be deferred for consideration in FY2018.
All applications are competitive and are ranked based on national, state and locally identified resource priorities and the overall benefit to the environment.
If you are interested in applying for an NRCS conservation program, visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/ny/programs/.
You may apply by visiting your local NRCS field office, which can be found at http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=NY. There are local NRCS offices in Herkimer, Madison and Oneida counties.