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Conserving water aim of initiative
Published 2/11/2012 in Local News
By RACHAEL GRAY
rgray@gctelegram.com
Kansas farmers and producers can now apply for the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative and receive funding for water conservation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The deadline to be considered for fiscal year 2012 funds is Feb. 24. The NRCS will fund this initiative through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
Much of the High Plains region relies on the Ogallala for water but the resource is being depleted due to widespread irrigation use in the High Plains states.
The Ogallala Aquifer, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is a vast but shallow underground water table aquifer located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. It is one of the world's largest aquifers and covers an area that includes portions of eight states: Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
Amanda Shaw, supervisory district conservationist for the local NRCS division, said the funding is available for farmers and producers who engage in water-conservation practices such as switching from irrigated crops to dryland crops and converting flood irrigation system to center-pivot irrigation systems.
"Those are the primarily the practices in this area," she said.
She said the land has to be agricultural land or land used for livestock production that produces at least $1,000 of agriculture products within the year.
Financial assistance is available through the OAI for producers considering converting from irrigated cropland to dryland cropland, as well as assistance for more efficient irrigation systems and management. All participants must meet EQIP eligibility requirements. In Kansas, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, and beginning farmers and ranchers will receive a higher payment rate for conservation practices related to OAI, according to a release from NRCS.
"In Kansas, water quantity and quality is a high priority resource concern under EQIP," said Eric B. Banks, State Conservationist for NRCS in Kansas. "The additional funding will allow the opportunity for agriculture producers to address these concerns, by implementing conservation practices such as irrigation water management, crop rotations, and replacing inefficient gravity irrigation systems."
EQIP Sign-up Information
To sign an application for OAI stop by the local USDA Service Center and visit with the NRCS staff. For more information about OAI and other natural resources conservation programs, contact local NRCS office or conservation district office. The office is located at your local USDA Service Center.
Garden City's local USDA NRCS center is located at 2106 E. Spruce St., or call 275-0122, Ext. 3.
More information is available on the Kansas wesbiste: http://www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov"www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov. Follow NRCS on Twitter @NRCS_Kansas.
CORRECTION: The original version of this article listed the incorrect phone number and address of the Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Garden City. The NRCS office is located at 2106 E. Spruce St. and the number is 275-0122, Ext. 3.
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