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Texas Agriculture Archive

November 18, 2005

EQIP works well for
Grayson County rancher

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

The idea that agricultural activities and environmental quality are at odds with each other is a myth. In fact, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is helping farmers and ranchers achieve both objectives through the popular Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

EQIP was reauthorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm Bill) to provide a voluntary conservation program for farmers and ranchers that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible national goals. EQIP offers financial and technical help to assist eligible participants install or implement structural and management practices on eligible agricultural land.

EQIP is a continuous sign-up program that allows landowners or operators to apply for financial and technical assistance for specific conservation practices. EQIP offers contracts with a minimum term that ends one year after the implementation of the last scheduled practices and a maximum term of 10 years. Persons who are engaged in livestock or agricultural production on eligible land may participate in the EQIP program. EQIP activities are carried out according to an environmental quality incentives program plan of operations developed in conjunction with the producer that identifies the appropriate conservation practice or practices to address the resource concerns. The practices are subject to NRCS technical standards adapted for local conditions. In Texas, EQIP cost-sharing is offered on a county-by-county basis. Each county has its own rules and factors it uses in determining how much cost-sharing is available for approved conservation practices.

In Grayson County, the EQIP Local Work Group (LWG) has identified the following resource concerns: water quality associated with erosion and sediment control on cropland; conversion of cropland to grass; severe gully erosion; brush management; and plant health on both pastureland and rangeland. The State Technical Committee has identified Atrazine (a herbicide commonly utilized in the production of corn and sorghum crops) as a major resource concern in the drainage area of Lake Tawakoni and Lake Lavon, which are both used as a source of drinking water for the region. Therefore, a special emphasis area of that county's EQIP is aimed at Atrazine remediation.

According to Chris Patterson, an NRCS soil conservationist who works with producers enrolled in Grayson County's EQIP program, the 2006 EQIP will focus on four priorities: 1) grass planting on cropland and degraded pastures; 2) stock water ponds and/or water pipelines; 3) brush control; and 4) cross fencing. Patterson said the EQIP concept is a good one, and farmers like it.

"They generally get about a 50 percent incentive to do conservation," said Patterson. "If you're talking about planting grass on cropland, if the farmer starts from scratch, prepares the seed bed, and buys the seed and fertilizer, it can cost him $110 to $150 an acre. You have the land cost and the land is out of production. With the 50-percent cost share, and the farmer doing the work himself and not having it done, he comes out a little ahead."

Patterson said the NRCS in Texas has implemented a lean and local process that streamlines the application and evaluation procedures. State guidelines say cost share rates will normally not exceed 50 percent for regular producers. Most counties have set their rates at 50 percent; however, some are lower in order to provide assistance to more producers. Limited resource farmers and ranchers will be eligible for at least 60 percent cost share in every county and even more in some counties. Beginning farmers and ranchers will be eligible for a cost share rate higher than the regular rate in many counties.

Agricultural producers engaged in livestock or agricultural production may participate in EQIP. There are, however, circumstances that may limit an individual's or entity's participation; these include:

• Federal and state governments and political subdivisions thereof, are not eligible.

• The applicant must be in compliance with highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions.

• The individual or entity may not be eligible due to Adjusted Gross Income provisions.

In order to be eligible to signup for EQIP, the applicant must be determined to be an eligible producer by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The land offered for EQIP must also be determined eligible by the NRCS.

Bob Darwin of Whitewright has participated in a number of cost-share conservation programs over the years, including EQIP. He realizes the value of the program.

"It gives you the incentive to go ahead and do what you know you should have done already," said Darwin.

The Grayson County cowman and his family occupy the 1837 homestead founded by his ancestors. He and his son, Bert, run crossbred cattle.

"We own and lease 1,700 acres," said Darwin. "We actually own 800 to 900 acres of it. We have commercial cattle, mostly Brangus and Limousin cross—a lot of black baldies—and a few Quarter horses, ranch horses. We quit raising grain and row crops. With these soils—all this white rock—grass was nonexistent. We have a dozer of our own, and started pushing brush, hoping to get some grass growing. Then this program came along, and it was a good fit."

Darwin, with assistance from Patterson, is currently working on two EQIP contracts—one he signed in 2000, and the other one initiated two years ago, focusing on Atrazine remediation and water quality. Early on, he used a dozer to push in washes and clear brush, then he sodded hillsides.

"We pushed scattered timber and sodded 20-plus acres with bluestem. I still have three acres of brush to push. I planted the last patch of grass on the hillsides, and a grass border in a riparian buffer to protect the watershed running into Lake Lavon. I've also done some cross fencing on a cost share. We did some repair work, cut our pastures so we can rotate our cattle. It has worked," he said.

Darwin has a decent stand of bluestem, but lamented that the region has received little or no rainfall in months.

"We could sure use some rain right now," he said in late October. "You kind of flip a coin. With this drought, we may need to resow next year. You're talking about doing it twice, but the whole purpose of these programs is to get a stand of grass."

Darwin likes the flexibility of the EQIP program.

"The EQIP contract is bid on percentages, so it allows a farmer to use that 50 percent where he needs it, as long as the goal is accomplished. For example, all the posts and cornerposts used in our cross-fence was raised and cut here on the place. I took the money that would have been spent on posts and applied that to spraying," he said.

Darwin noted that one of the terms of the EQIP contract requires that when the work is completed, and goals are met, the project must be maintained.

Now Darwin is interested in an EQIP contract that will help him build pipelines to run water from his wells to the pastures, to really take advantage of rotation.

"We're even looking at deer hunting as an enterprise, and it looks real good," said Darwin.

For more information on the eligibility and sign-up requirements for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, call or visit your local FSA or NRCS office.