The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Foster County Soil Conservation District has again been chosen as one of seven soil conservation districts in North Dakota to participate in the Alliance to Advance Climate Smart Agriculture. The Alliance is a pilot program that pays farmers and ranchers $100 per acre for adopting high-value conservation practices such as cover crops, no-till, minimum till, prescribed grazing and more.
North Dakota is one of four states participating in the program, joining Arkansas, Minnesota and Virginia. The project is funded by a USDA grant and will pay out a total of $57 million to roughly 4,000 producers in 2024 and 2025. Enrollment is expected to begin prior to the 2024 growing season. The eight counties selected are Billings, Cass, McKenzie, Mercer, Rolette, Stark and Ward.
Nationally, the program is led by Virginia Tech, with North Dakota Farmers Union serving as the pilot lead for North Dakota. The North Dakota Conservation District Employees Association and soil conservation districts are providing technical assistance for growers, while the North Dakota Grain Growers Association is assisting with producer outreach.
The Alliance is part of USDA's $3.1 billion investment in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, which supports 141 projects and seeks to provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodities and expand those markets for American producers, according to USDA.
The project is limited to 160 acres or animal units per producer for a maximum payout of $16,000 annually. Producers will receive 50% up front, 25% after implementation and verification, and then the final 25% after reporting is complete. Producers who used the program in 2024 are eligible in 2025 as well, but they can't enroll the same acres for the same practice.
Forty percent of the project's nationwide enrollment must come from under-served, socially disadvantaged or limited-resource farms.
Early adopters are eligible to receive funding, though any acreage dedicated to NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program would not be eligible.
Enrollment will happen through an online portal. To learn more about the program, visit allianceforcsa.org or contact Foster County SCD at 701-652-2551 ext. 3, fosterscd.com, or facebook.com/FosterSCD/.
There will be an informational meeting for Foster County at NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center on Monday, Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. That is also the first day of the application period for 2025, which will be open for one month.
