USDA NRCS Missouri Department’s Conservation Partnership Grant

Notice of Funding Opportunity Summary:

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO) is being released prior to appropriation and/or apportionment of funds for fiscal year 2023. Enactment of additional continuing resolutions or an appropriations act may affect the availability or level of funding for this program.

The NRCS, an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is seeking opportunities to partner with and support the efforts of natural resource conservation partners in Missouri to achieve any one of the following objectives:

a. Farm Bill Outreach Workshops and/or Conferences and/or Virtual Learning – Funding is intended to promote awareness of NRCS programs to Historically Underserved (HU) agricultural producers, further the development of NRCS relationships with conservation partners and Historically Underserved (HU) agricultural producers. HU participants include veterans, minority and limited resource landowners and agricultural producers. NRCS’s objective is to increase HU landowner participation in USDA-NRCS conservation programs. Proposals shall be specifically targeted to provide information on current agricultural topics of interest to underserved segments of the agricultural community.

b. Technical Workshops and/or Field Days with focus on 1) Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF) Mitigation Activities, 2) Native Plants and Native Plant Communities, 3) Urban Agriculture Initiatives and Awareness: Provide learning opportunities to educate NRCS and partner conservation planners AND/OR Missouri agricultural producers who have installed, or considered installing conservation practices, or seek additional learning on the above listed emphasis areas. Opportunities will provide education, demonstration, and/or training on topics including, but not limited to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, soil health improvement strategies in cropping and/or pasture/grazing systems, native plant establishment and/or management techniques, rotational grazing and stockpiling, proper nutrient management on cropland and pastures, wildlife habitat benefits from improved soil health and native plant community adoption, urban agriculture production, awareness, and education. Applicant must demonstrate the capability to unite members of the agriculture science and technology communities to share their knowledge with producers and other interested parties.

c. Water Quality Improvement, Drainage Water Management, and/or Sheet and Rill Erosion, and/or gully erosion Workshops: Promote adoption of intensive water management and improvement of water quality through sponsored workshops. NRCS objective is to educate producers about the benefits of drainage water management practices. Applicant must demonstrate the capability to coordinate workshops to achieve NRCS objectives. These practices help producers by reducing input costs and reducing energy use and supports reduced nitrogen loading to surface waters through controlled release at times of lesser pollutant concentrations. These management systems can contribute to lower nutrient loading in the Mississippi River Basin project area.

d. Enhance or expand climate data tools: Provide technical assistance in developing, identification, notification and assessment of precipitation, drought, and related weather events which impact agricultural production in Missouri. These efforts include, but are not limited to, project proposals which enhance understanding and impact of extreme precipitation events.

e. Organic and Specialty Crop Workshops and/or Field Days: Provide learning opportunities to educate NRCS conservation planners and partner staff AND/OR Missouri agricultural producers who are following or considering the use of organic or transition to organic cropping systems for vegetables, fruits, specialty crops, produce, berries, and non- traditional agricultural production efforts for Missouri. Examples include: Promotion and expansion of field-to-market efforts; voluntary landowner supported efforts to educate producers on how to implement organic farming techniques and improve understanding of organic labeling, marketing, and organic production benefits; Encourage and demonstrate marketing and distribution of vegetables and produce for rural economic development through farmers markets and food hub related aggregation efforts; Encourage technical assistance, education, research, technology transfer and public awareness of economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural production techniques associated with organic and specialty crop production.

This notice identifies the objectives, eligibility criteria, and application instructions. Proposals will be screened for completeness and compliance with the provisions of this notice. Incomplete and/or noncompliant proposals will be eliminated from competition, and notification of elimination will be sent to the applicant. The Missouri State Conservationist reserves the right not to fund any or all applications. NRCS will accept applications under this notice for single or multiyear applications submitted by eligible entities.

For new users of Grants.gov, see Section D. for information about steps required before submitting an application via Grants.gov.

Key Dates

Applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 1, 2023. For technical issues with Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Applicant Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. Awarding agency staff cannot support applicants regarding Grants.gov accounts.

For inquiries specific to the content of the NFO requirements, contact the federal awarding agency contact (section G of this NFO). Please limit questions to those regarding specific information contained in this NFO (such as dates, page numbers, clarification of discrepancies, etc.). Questions related to eligibility or the merits of a specific proposal will not be addressed.

The agency anticipates making selections by May 15th, 2023 and expects to execute awards by September 15, 2023. These dates are estimates and are subject to change.

A webinar will be conducted at 1:00pm central standard time, on Tuesday, April 11th, 2023. A Microsoft teams Meeting link to the webinar is shown below:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_M2IwNjg4YTMtNTVlZi00YTY5LWFhYTQtZWEyMjkzNjA2NTg2%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22ed5b36e7-01ee-4ebc-867e-e03cfa0d4697%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2260df8128-60b0-41c6-a9e7-7d138b6a2fc1%22%7d

Information on how to participate may be obtained by contacting Brad McCord or Amanda Zapien at 573-876-0901 or brad.mccord@usda.gov, or Amanda.zapien@usda.gov. Webinar information will be posted to the Missouri NRCS web site at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/nrcs/missouri.