DAVIS, CA – Yesterday, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) rolled out the National Rice Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project here, organized and implemented by USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited through their Stewardship Partnership.
The portion of the project, Sustaining the Future of Rice, released is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) sign-up. The practices available solely for rice farmers within the program focus on reduction of on-farm water usage and give priority to those seeking to install irrigation tailwater recovery systems and improve the efficiency of irrigation pipelines.
California rice grower and member of the Stewardship Partnership, Leo LaGrande, said he’s “excited that the RCPP project is finally kicking off in California, there’s definitely a need here for conservation financial assistance.”
LaGrande added, “It is common knowledge that we’re ranching out here in the West in difficult but efficient environments because of our lack of water. That’s why it was important to us when putting together the EQIP ranking criteria that we prioritized water-saving practices to further incentivize innovative irrigation methods.”
Rice growers are eligible to submit EQIP applications at their local NRCS offices no later than August 19 in the following counties: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, and Yuba. To learn more about the National Rice RCPP project in California, visit the project’s state NRCS
page.
The application period for the Conservation Stewardship Program will be announced late this fall across all six rice-growing states.