Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) 

Deadline: October 25, 2021

Grant Period: Projects may be up to one to two years in duration. Applicants should plan their projects based on an estimated project start date of January 01, 2022.

Amount: $100,000 - $1,000,000.

The Office of Outreach and Partnerships Division (OPD) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides leadership and funding to ensure that all programs and services are made accessible to all NRCS customers, fairly and equitably, with emphasis on reaching the underserved and socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers and landowners. NRCS requests applications for four OPD priority areas through the Racial Equity and Justice Conservation Cooperative Agreements. The goal of this outreach is for NRCS in collaboration with partners to expand the delivery of conservation assistance to historically underserved farmers and ranchers, including socially disadvantaged, limited resource, beginning, tribal and veteran. Proposals should support activities that introduce the concepts of climate-smart agriculture and assist producers with planning and implementation of conservation practices and principles that:

• Improve soil health;
• Improve water quality and quantity;
• Provide habitat for local wildlife species of concern;
• Improve the environmental and economic performance of working agricultural land;
• Build and strengthen local food projects that provide for sustainable healthy food production and economic opportunities
• Provide conservation planning that develops solutions to frequent and changing weather patterns.

Projects should identify and remove barriers to accessing information and programs and reach historically underserved groups through a combination of outreach and technical assistance in managing natural resources that address the following four NRCS priority areas:

• Addressing local natural resource issues;
• Utilizing Climate Smart Agriculture practices and principles; to provide a foundation that will improve farming benefits to innovative conservation that leads to a more sustainable future through effective environmental practices on the land.
• Encouraging existing and new partnerships through emphasizing urban needs and equality in advancing underserved communities’ and small- scale agriculture.
• Developing state and community-led conservation leadership for historically underserved producers, including training students for careers in natural resources management.

Applicants must propose a project that responds to one or more of the four program priority areas listed above.

For priority 2 above, the term “Climate Smart Agriculture” means planning and developing solutions to address frequent and changing weather patterns. For example, a project through outreach may introduce conservation planning alternatives to address air quality, aquatic habitat, erosion control, plant condition, nutrient management, livestock production, water quality, water quantity, irrigation water management, soil quality, and other resource concerns that mitigate excessive climate change and the impact to their farming operation and the environment.

How to apply: Applicants interested in applying in response to this RFA must submit it via email to NRCS-DCWA2-Outreach-and-Partnership-Division@USDA.GOV; the agency will not accept applications submitted through any other method, including through Grants.gov or via email to any other email address. All required documents must be attached in a single email, but do not need to be combined in one attachment. Please state that you are applying to the Conservation Outreach Racial Equity and Justice Conservation Cooperative Agreements RFA.      

*Please Note - If you are interested in applying for this grant or have any questions, please contact our Pre- Award Specialists Erika Wright at emw7@humboldt.edu, Pia Gabriel at pg12@humboldt.edu, or Kaz Wegmuller at jkw77@humboldt.edu