Deadline: 13-Jul-22
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is pleased to launch the Conservation Partners Program to accelerate the voluntary adoption of regenerative agriculture principles and conservation practices on private working lands in priority geographic areas.
Priorities Areas
The Conservation Partners Program will fund projects that provide agricultural producers with technical assistance to adopt regenerative agriculture systems and conservation practices on their working lands.
Categories
Competitive projects will promote approaches that best align with the key objectives identified for each of the four program priority categories described below. Key strategies within these categories include:
- Grazing management
- Crop management
- Irrigation improvement
Funding Information
- Approximately $3.9 million in grant funding is available under this funding opportunity.
- Typical grant awards will range from $100,000 to $600,000, with an estimated average grant size of approximately $250,000.
Principles
Competitive projects will increase participation in Farm Bill programs as one way to advance regenerative agriculture principles. Some of these principles include:
- Minimizing chronic disturbances to the soil and biological community;
- Maximizing diversity of plants, animals, and microbes;
- Keeping the soil covered;
- Keeping a living root in the ground at all times; and
- Efficiently managing water resources. Grant recipients will apply these principles to support producers in developing and advancing holistic approaches that simultaneously improve performance of agricultural operations and ecosystem functions.
- Habitat enhancement
Eligible Projects
The Conservation Partners Program will support projects that:
- Direct staff resources to help agricultural producers design and implement regenerative agriculture systems and practices.
- Increase Farm Bill program participation and conservation practice implementation among agricultural producers, especially farmers and ranchers in the Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis categories.
- Generate environmental benefits, such as improvements to wildlife habitat, soil health, and water quantity and quality.
- Sequester and store carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase resilience to impacts of climate change.
- Promote conservation systems to complement and advance producer economic interests and operational efficiency
- Equip agricultural producers with information and data management capabilities to access ecosystem service markets
- Foster community learning to advance regional knowledge and adoption of regenerative agriculture systems and practices.
Geographical Focus
This funding opportunity will provide grants for projects that align geographically with the following program priority categories:
- Prairie Pothole Region
- Upper Mississippi River Basin
- Southern Great Plains
- Soil Health Outreach Campaign
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, tribal governments and organizations, and educational institutions. To be competitive, applicant organizations must demonstrate capacity and experience commensurate with the scale of the project being proposed and the funding being requested.
- Individuals, federal government agencies, and for-profit entities are not eligible to apply for grant funding.
For more information, visit https://www.nfwf.org/programs/conservation-partners-program/conservation-partners-program-june-2022-request-proposals