Updated 9/29/25
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can provide substantial conservation support for your farm or non-industrial forestland. For qualifying farmers and forest landowners, NRCS financial assistance programs, most notably “EQIP” or “CSP,” can help implement conservation practices to address an environmental problem on your farm or add conservation enhancements to continue your existing conservation efforts. Conservation practices are specific activities with an intended, positive outcome on the farm and the surrounding natural environment. Each practice can be applied to cropland (including orchards), pasture/grazing land, hay fields, rangeland, field edges or buffer areas, woodlands/forests, small water bodies on farms, energy-inefficient buildings, and other farm-adjacent land. This year, funding for NRCS’s EQIP and CSP programs will be more competitive, and RAFI wants to ensure you have equitable access to their financial assistance.
Now is a great time to weigh your options and consider applying to make those long-awaited improvements to systems on your farm, such as:
- Improving pasture soil, forage, and infrastructure
- Covering and stabilizing bare soil with perennial vegetation
- Improving soil fertility and crop health while reducing chemical use
- Reducing water loss
- Planting trees for crops, forage, shade, and climate change mitigation
- Increasing wildlife and pollinator habitat
- Improving water quality, air quality, and more
However, the application process can be challenging to understand, the level of advice from agents can vary, the wait for funding can feel long, and some farmers have had a range of negative experiences with the agency.
Having someone walk you through the process and help you understand your eligibility, what to expect, and what to ask of NRCS can make a significant difference. That’s what RAFI and our partners are here to do in our Conservation Resources for Resilient Farms project.
Increasing your Success with NRCS
A few ways to be more successful with NRCS include:
- Being aware of your state’s deadlines (see deadline information below)
- Knowing what environmental challenges you are facing on your land and having a desire to address the challenge with a conservation practice
- Knowing what you can apply for before you speak to NRCS
- Knowing what to expect of the whole process and what questions to ask
- Being very patient, as the agency has fewer staff but high demand for assistance
- Requesting our FREE technical assistance to help you with all of the above!
If you need assistance with your 2026 application or would like help determining whether to apply, please complete this intake/request form. Contact Jaimie at jaimie@rafi.gameflow.design or call 984.282.6047 if you need assistance with the form.
Application Deadlines
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) states that you can apply for financial assistance to make conservation improvements on your farm or forestland at any time in the year. However, your state’s NRCS will set an application “batching” or “ranking” date, and you should treat this like a deadline to apply. All applications received by your state’s date will be assessed, scored, and ranked competitively for the financial assistance available in the 2026 fiscal year.
Please note that few states have announced their FY 2026 ranking dates so far, and some states announce their date with very little time left to apply. Therefore, we suggest that until you know your state’s deadline, assume the deadline will be October 1, 2025, and apply or discuss applying with your NRCS agent before October 1. This will improve your chances of receiving assistance in 2026.
We will update the following section with each state’s ranking dates as they are announced:
NOTE: View all state and territory ranking dates here if you do not see your state/territory listed here.
If you need assistance with your 2026 application or would like help determining whether to apply, please complete this intake/request form. Contact Jaimie at jaimie@rafi.gameflow.design or call 984.282.6047 if you need assistance with the form.
Applications received after your state’s date will be considered in the next funding cycle (sometimes late winter), but only if funds are still available, which cannot be guaranteed. (i.e. Funding from EQIP for a High Tunnel or livestock-related assistance runs out quickly, so if you miss your state’s ranking date, your application may not be considered until the next Fiscal Year!)
For 2025 Applicants: If you applied to NRCS for assistance between October 2024 and now, but you have not been notified about the status of your application, please look out for a certified letter from USDA stating that you did not receive assistance, and your application will automatically be considered for assistance in fiscal year 2026. Letters are typically mailed in September or October of every year.