Announcement for Program Funding for NRCS’ Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2021 – Wisconsin | USDA NRCS WI CIG 21 NOFO0001073

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS WI CIG 21 NOFO0001073

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) funding for federal fiscal year 2021 specifically for projects located in Wisconsin. This opportunity is meant to push conservation forward by helping develop, test, and expand the use of new conservation approaches and technologies that work alongside real-world agricultural production. The overall goal is practical innovation that can be adopted by producers and land managers, incorporated into NRCS and other technical guidance, or taken up by the private sector. The program is geared toward applied work, so it commonly supports pilot projects, field demonstrations, and on-farm conservation research. In this context, on-farm conservation research is defined as a study designed to answer a specific, applied conservation question using statistically valid methods while operating at a true farm scale, using typical farm equipment on farms, ranches, or private forest lands.

For Wisconsin in FY 2021, NRCS is making up to $500,000 available total for the state competition. Individual awards can be as large as $500,000 (meaning a single project could, in theory, use the full amount), and project periods are expected to run from one to three years. NRCS anticipates making about 10 awards, though actual award numbers depend on proposal quality, requested budgets, and how funds are distributed across selected projects.

Eligibility is broad and includes nearly all non-federal entities and individuals, with federal agencies as the only explicit exclusion. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; special districts; public and private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; federally recognized Tribal governments and other Tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit entities (including small businesses); and individuals. This wide eligibility is designed to encourage partnerships and bring in applicants that can test innovations in the field, including producers, conservation groups, universities, local governments, and agribusinesses, as long as the work is carried out in Wisconsin and aligns with Wisconsin priorities for this competition.

A key limitation for this specific notice is that proposals must address one or more Wisconsin state priority categories, and proposals compete within their category rather than against the entire pool. Wisconsin has organized its FY 2021 priorities into three broad tracks: (1) Conservation Planning, (2) Manure Management Systems, and (3) Soil Health Management Systems. A soil health proposal is evaluated against other soil health proposals, and a manure management proposal is evaluated against other manure management proposals, which is intended to make scoring and selection more comparable within each technical focus. Collectively, these priority categories are meant to support NRCS goals like streamlining conservation planning, encouraging agricultural innovation, improving resilience to weather variability, and tackling Wisconsin’s priority resource concerns. The resource concerns emphasized in the notice include concentrated erosion, degraded plant condition, field sediment, nutrient and pathogen loss, soil quality limitations, and both wind and water erosion.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant competition (not a formula allocation), listed under CFDA 10.912, and managed by USDA NRCS. Applications were required to be submitted through Grants.gov by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 7, 2021. The agency also set a question deadline of April 22, 2021, with answers to posted questions to be shared on Grants.gov about two weeks before the application deadline. The funding opportunity number is USDA NRCS WI CIG 21 NOFO0001073, and the notice was created on March 8, 2021.

• The Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service in the agriculture, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Announcement for Program Funding for NRCS’ Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2021 – Wisconsin" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.912.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 08, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 07, 2021 Applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov by 1159 pm Eastern Time on May 7, 2021. Questions regarding this notice of funding opportunity (NFO) may be submitted until April 22, 2021. Responses to questions posed will be posted on Grants.gov approximately two weeks before the application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for USDA NRCS WI CIG 21 NOFO0001073

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