COST-SHARE AID AVAILABLE FOR DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

ALMOND GROWERS HAVE UNTIL May 8 to take advantage of a new USDA program that pays a higher-than-normal 75 percent cost share for certain drought management practices. Practices include establishing vegetative cover, soil surface roughening, incorporation of soil-stabilizing organic matter, silt fencing adjacent to highways, irrigation water management, and pruning to keep trees alive.

The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service in California will take applications for $2 million available for practices designed to protect soil and air quality in areas of fallowed fields, keep orchard trees alive, and protect natural resources on ranch and pasture land. The $2 million is being made available in the following counties:

Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sierra, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba.

Grower eligibility requirements are the same as required under the current Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP.) For more information on the drought, conservation practices that might mitigate drought-related problems and payment rates for the current drought initiative click here or contact your local NRCS office. Click here for southern California locations or here for Northern California locations.