Indiana’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announces an additional 1.5 million dollars received to help eligible crop and livestock producers in Indiana, bringing the total funding received to 5 million dollars. Funding is provided through the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), which helps producers and landowners apply conservation practices that will improve soil health and productivity, while benefiting Indiana’s wildlife. Kimberly Neumann, Acting, State Conservationist, said, “With over 9 million dollars in requests from the recent WHIP drought sign up, I am pleased to have these additional dollars become available for Hoosier farmers during this critical time. WHIP gives us tremendous flexibility in recovering and rebuilding our wildlife habitat that has been lost in the extreme heat and dryness this summer, while providing needed forage for livestock.”
Practices in the special WHIP sign up included deferred grazing, cover crops, upland wildlife habitat establishment, wildlife cover establishment, livestock watering facilities and water conservation practices. WHIP funds were made available from NRCS’s existing national funds to target states experiencing extreme drought. The sign up for funding consideration ended last Friday August 24. The additional 1.5 million dollars will be used to fund additional applications submitted during the sign up.
“NRCS staff have been out on farms in their counties this summer, and have seen the devastation. NRCS wants farmers to know we are here to help them in any way we can to recover,” said Neumann. Additional information about drought resources, including fact sheets, program guidance, links to maps and other resources is located on the NRCS drought website at www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/drought.html. Producers can also visit their local USDA-NRCS field office to talk with staff. Visit www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/directory/field_offices.html to find the nearest USDA Service Center. For a complete list of states included in the USDA announcement, go to www.nrcs.usda.gov.
Source: NRCS