Maine farmers seeking conservation planning and financial assistance should contact their local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office soon for help treating natural resource concerns. Applications for all NRCS programs are accepted on a continuous basis, however, NRCS establishes application “cut-off” dates for evaluation and ranking of eligible applications.

For consideration in Fiscal Year 2023, the application cut-off date is Aug. 26, 2022.

This includes applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program, Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Applicants will be asked to work with NRCS conservation planners to assess resource needs and agree on practices to treat these needs.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA)

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)

For more details on any of the programs, please contact one of the 14 USDA Service Centers conveniently located throughout Maine. In Somerset County, call 207-474-8323 and speak with Nick or Alexis.