Critical issues have a significant impact on the ability of specialty crop producers to participate in EQIP or other conservation programs

Awareness

Most specialty crop producers have had little contact with Farm Bill conservation programs or the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). As a result, growers are unfamiliar with NRCS procedures or the possible benefits from participation in the conservation programs. Similarly, NRCS staff in many parts of the country have had limited contact with specialty crop producers and lack extensive technical experience in pest management. Therefore, an essential first step in improving access for specialty crop producers requires increasing the level of awareness and knowledge of both specialty crop producers and NRCS staff.

In addition, the State Technical Committee and Local Working Groups help set priorities for EQIP at the state and county levels, respectively. Making contact with and participating in the deliberations of those groups is an important part of increasing awareness and creating the working relationships, at the state and local levels, necessary to putting EQIP to work for specialty crop producers.

Applying for EQIP

The process of applying for participation in EQIP can be somewhat daunting for growers who have had little or no experience with NRCS or with conservation programs. In addition to filling out the appropriate forms, growers must identify the conservation practices for which they want support. To aid in the application process we have developed a guide to applying for EQIP. The one shown here was developed for cherry growers in Michigan (Guide). While the process varies from state to state (for example, some states require that growers submit a conservation plan for their farms as part of their application) this example gives a good idea of the basic information growers need to get started.

Ranking of applications

The ranking of proposals is an important part of the EQIP application process. NRCS has significantly more applications than it has money to spend. Under the new Farm Bill, applications are to be ranked by the level of environmental benefits they provide in meeting national priorities and resource concerns. This has proved problematic for specialty crop producers in several ways:

• The ranking process essentially requires that, in order to successfully apply, growers must address multiple resource concerns. This makes the application process complicated for growers unfamiliar with the program and leads to their applications not being funded if they are not aware of the wider range of practices they might use.
• Since specialty crops are relatively new to the conservation programs, more knowledge is needed so that the full impacts of practices such as pest management are better integrated into the ranking criteria. More fully accounting for the effects of sound pest and nutrient management on air, water, and wildlife resources will increase the ability of specialty crop producers to participate in EQIP.
• To the extent that states have gone to a standard statewide ranking sheet and/or ranked all applications at the state rather than the county level, specialty crop producers can find it difficult to rank high enough to get their applications approved.

CAP and its partners have been active in working with NRCS to ensure that the ranking criteria fully account for the multiple benefits of specialty crop conservation practices.

Download the CAP White Paper regarding "How a Lack of Conservation Planning and Technical Assistance is Limiting the Ability of Small Farmers and Specialty Crop Producers to Participate in Federal Conservation Programs" (PDF Format)