Organic Initiative

Are you an organic farmer, ranchers or aspiring one and need some assistance? The USDA recently set-aside $50 million and held the first nationwide sign-up for farmers in the process of converting to organic, producers expanding their organic production, or existing organic farms increasing their environmental performance even more. This provision is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

While farmers and ranchers can go into their local NRCS office at anytime to apply for this program, applications will not be ranked until the money is again set-aside for this program, which will likely be sometime early next year (2010).

During the first sign-up, six core conservation practices were supported, with each state having the opportunity to add facilitating practices as well. The six core practices were conservation crop rotation, cover cropping, integrated pest management, nutrient management, rotational grazing, and forage harvest management.

See our factsheet for more details. You can also call Traci Bruckner at the Center for Rural Affairs at 402-687-2103 x1016 with questions.

Thank you to everyone whose advocacy on the 2008 farm bill helped make this new opportunity possible.