Q: Who is eligible to apply?

A: Only Soil and Water Conservation Districts individually or in partnership. 

Q: Do partnering counties need to be contiguous? 

A: No, assuming they are able to share resources and collaborate effectively.

Q: Will SWCDs distribute funds directly to landowners?

A: No. Payments to landowners enrolled in the program will come directly from Virginia Tech. Districts will be responsible for providing outreach, training and technical support to those landowners, and for reporting program results in eLINK and through the NRCS COMET platform.  Training in COMET will be provided through Virginia Tech.

Q: How will farmers and ranchers be selected to participate in the program?

A: Landowners will apply directly to Virginia Tech through an online portal. Selection of applicants will be occur based on a model that statistically represents state demographics and includes criteria such as diversity of commodities, operation size, underrepresented producers, and previous adoption of climate-smart practices.  This project will allow one application per Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm number, with the payment going to the FSA designated operator or to be divided as designated on the enrollment form and contract. The participant selection model will allow up to two FSA farm numbers per designated operator, for a maximum of 160 acres per farm number, or 320 acres in total.

Q: Can I pay for time to administer the grant and necessary eLINK related reporting?

A: Yes, administration of the grant and associated reporting is an eligible expense.

Q: Can I pay for promotional materials, training supplies or other tangible goods?

A: Yes, costs of outreach and recruitment events and necessary travel are included in the project budget. Anticipated costs would include facilities and equipment rental, training packets and materials, refreshments (where necessary due to location and timing of activities that would prevent attendees from accessing other food and refreshment options) and incentives. These activities will be necessary to reach producers in each district in Year 1 and to offer technical assistance to these producers and potentially enroll additional participants in Year 2.

Q: Are travel costs eligible?

A: Yes, travel costs within each participating district and selected farm tours and meetings in other districts are included in the project budget, meeting the requirements in BWSR’s Grants Administration Manual for travel expenses.

Q: Will farmers be eligible for other benefits?  For example, would they be able to participate in other federally-funded programs or sell carbon credits? 

A: Farmers can choose to concurrently participate in private carbon markets if those opportunities are available to them. Farmers may continue to participate in other federally-funded programs such as EQIP and CSP, but only new/enhanced practices or additional acres would be eligible for the Alliance pilot (see USDA response below) 

Q: Must the practice be ‘new’ to be eligible? 

A:  The expectation is that existing practices will be enhanced (i.e., adding a multi-species cover crop mix) or implemented on additional acreage.

See this Q & A from USDA:  

Q: Can a producer be enrolled both in Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities and existing Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs?

A: Yes. Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is one part of USDA’s commitment to supporting agricultural producers through voluntary, incentives-driven, market-based approaches. Producers may engage in this program and participate in voluntary conservation programs delivered through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

In fact, early adopters – those who have already applied some climate-smart practices – are eligible and encouraged to be part of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities pilot projects. Federal funds under this funding opportunity may not be used to pay for implementation of the same practice on the same land. Generally, if a practice has (or had) a Federal contract and is still within the project lifespan, then that specific practice on that specific land will not be paid for again. However, an enhancement to that practice or practices implemented on other areas of the farm are acceptable for funding under Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities projects. Payments to further incentivize the climate-smart commodity generated are also acceptable.

Visit farmers.gov/climate-smart to learn more about USDA-wide resources to support farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners in delivering climate solutions.

Q: If a district office doesn’t have anyone with JAA for all the practices, can the district choose which practices are offered?

A: Yes, however we encourage districts to team up or look for partnerships to provide JAA.

Q: Are producers eligible to apply for practices on acreage outside the participating districts?

A: No, only the acreage in participating counties would be eligible.

Q; Are districts expected to reach a minimum number of contracts with producers?  

A; No, there is no required minimum under this grant, but we hope to be able to expend all of the USDA funds allocated to Minnesota.

Q:  What are the Conservation District’s responsibilities under this program?  

A: See “Eligible Activities” in the RFP.  A more detailed list of program activities includes the following:

1. Outreach to producers:  Each participating district will conduct outreach and recruitment events and activities in Years 1 and 2, to include open houses, webinars, advertising, and individual contacts.

  • Other Minnesota project partners, including equity-focused partners, will also organize and participate in outreach and recruitment events. 

 

2. Support the participant application process. Note: Virginia Tech will provide the application and enrollment portal.  

a) Publicize the application window using all appropriate means 

b) Conduct outreach and ongoing discussions to interested parties to provide information, answer questions, and provide technical assistance  

c) Accept and enter any paper applications into system for producers without access to computer or internet  

d) Assess, review, and certify application eligibility (land and producer) and completeness; follow up with producers for additional information when necessary. Participating SWCDs will have access to producer applications within their district throughout the application period.  

e) After application period closes, ensure that all applications received directly by local districts are in the Virginia Tech system and complete.

 

3. Support enrollment process and successful execution of contracts with producers  

a) Project leadership at Virginia Tech will make final selections and provide list of approved applications to local districts and producers.  

b) If necessary, assist selected producers with the completion of the enrollment agreement.  

c) Certify benchmarks for additional incremental payments to producers.  Payment schedule: 

i) 50% of payment provided upon enrollment of program 

ii) 25% of payment provided at adoption of practice 

iii) 25% of payment provided at final reporting of data) 

 

4. Identify up to 10% of producers for COMET-Farm data entry subgroup based upon farmer responses upon enrollment. 

 

5. Provide Technical Assistance: Enrolled producers will receive direct technical assistance, access to practice-specific workshops, and support in completing their environmental measurement tools from local conservation district staff and others as determined by BWSR.

a) Lead producer meetings as outlined above

b) Provide producer-requested technical assistance specific to the producer’s contract  

c) Assist Producers with implementation/provide local project support and quality assurance:  

i) Certify that enrolled producers have achieved milestones for payments by accepting producer self-certification or by field visit. The results will be entered in the online data portal by the SWCD.  

1. Spot check random selection of operations, at least 10% 

2. Conduct direct-contact follow-up with producers that have not reported practice completion as scheduled, based on assessment of compliance report provided by VT  

3. Work with producers as necessary to report completed work  

4. Provide TA to producers who need assistance to report completed work  

5. Reschedule uncompleted work

         d) Assist in validating entry in COMET Planner, COMET Farm (for a sub-sample of selected participants, up to 10%, producers using COMET-Farm will be compensated an additional $1,000 for the estimated 35 hours to collect and input historical farm data).  

 e) Aggregate identified critical data and report to VT as prescribed by BWSR using RUSLE2 (SCI, reduction of erosion). 

6. Reporting: Provide information to support required USDA progress and milestones reporting as requested by Virginia Tech and BWSR.

 

Q: Will Environmental (CPA-052) and Cultural Resource Reviews (CPA-048) be required?

A: Environmental and cultural resources review will be conducted when required by USDA-NRCS guidelines.  The USDA has determined that only certain practices and scenarios require a cultural resources or environmental review.  The following practices generally will not require such reviews: 

  • 102 Comprehensive Nutrient Management
  • 328 Conservation Crop Rotation
  • 329 Residue and Tillage Management, No-Till
  • 340 Cover crop
  • 345 Residue and Tillage Management, Reduced Till
  • 449 Irrigation Water Management
  • 528 Prescribed Grazing
  • 590 Nutrient Management
  • 592 Feed Management

USDA has determined that additional site-specific review is required for the following practices and scenarios:

  • 367 Roofs and Covers
  • 381 Silvopasture
  • 390 Riparian Herbaceous Cover
  • 391 Riparian Forest Buffer
  • 512 Pasture and Hay Planting
  • 612 Tree/Shrub Establishment
  • 632 Waste Separation Facilities
  • Field has not been cropped within the last year or 4 of the past 7 years.
  • A change of land use will occur as a result of activities occurring under the producer beneficiary contract.
  • Construction or activities below the plow zone will occur.

Site-specific review includes completion of the CPA-52.  See NRCS Environmental Evaluation CPA-52 Worksheet, Tools and Training | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov) for more information.  BWSR and partners are exploring options for providing support to districts in completion of environmental reviews, where needed.

Q: What are the program goals for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

The Alliance pilot will promote meaningful participation by underserved producers through a variety of mechanisms with the goals across all four states, including:  

  • Having a goal that 40% of producers enrolled in the pilot qualify as historically underserved, including producers who are socially disadvantaged, veterans, limited-resource, women, small farmers and/or specialty crop operations. This goal will be incorporated into outreach and ranking of applicants for the program and is a combined goal across all four states.

  • Allocating 5% of funds for socially disadvantaged producers and 5% for limited-resource producers in each partner state.  

  • Equity producer groups will also be engaged nationally and at the state level to evaluate conservation district proposals and outreach plans.  

  • Providing limited-resource producers, socially disadvantaged producers and producers from female only operations an “equity payment” valued at 25% of the baseline $100 per unit, or a total of $125 per unit.  

  • Providing a minimum payment to operations with fewer than 5 acres of $500, or $625 through the equity payment described above.  

  • Partnering with producer groups, including equity-oriented groups, to host producer meetings in pilot states to solicit producer feedback on program design and pilot participation. BWSR will work with two organizations with extensive experience working with emerging farmers, small farmers and specialty crop producers: Renewing the Countryside and the Sustainable Farming Association.

Q: Does each participating district need to achieve the 40% goal for inclusion of historically underserved producers?

A: No, the goal is not a requirement, and it applies broadly across all four participating states. However, districts are encouraged to work with equity partners on outreach to these producers.

eLINK-Related Questions

Q: I wrote my responses to the questions in Word, but when I copied and pasted my answer into eLINK, it was truncated—or didn’t save.

A: Word and eLINK may interpret the character counts differently. Avoid using special formatting or characters, such as bulleted lists, bolded font, or symbols (such as “&”).

Q: The character limit for answering each application question in eLINK is 2000 characters. Does that include spaces?

A: Yes. A space is considered a character in eLINK.

Q: Can I make changes to a submitted application during the RFP open period?

A: Yes. You will need to click Withdraw Request, make your updates and then “Submit” the funding request. The status change triggers generating the report, which is added to the Attachments tab and seen by reviewers.  Please note that failure to change the status back to “Submitted” will not capture any changes for review team, and applications not in “Submitted” status at the time the RFP closes will not be considered for funding.

Q: Can consultants submit grant applications in eLINK on behalf of LGUs?

A: Yes, there are two ways to accomplish this. One way is for the LGU to start an application and add a consultant to the “team membership”. The consultant must have an active eLINK user account in order to be added to the team membership. The second way is for a consultant to request an eLINK user account from the eLINK homepage and indicate the LGU(s) for which they are applying. The LGUs should be aware of this request.

eLINK user accounts should not be shared by multiple individuals; a separate user account should be requested by each individual needing access. It is not necessary to create multiple eLINK user accounts for one individual if access is needed for multiple organizations. To request access to additional LGUs contact elinksupport@state.mn.us.

Q: When attempting to submit my application, I get a message stating, “For each activity, you must either check the box verifying that there are no pollution reduction estimates associated with the Activity, or enter proposed indicators.” What do I need to do?

A: Within each Activity Application Budget tab, you will either need to ensure that the “Check here if this activity does not include proposed pollution reduction estimates” is checked within the Edit Application Activity” screen (pencil icon), or enter proposed indicators within the “Edit Indicators” screen (orange diamond icon). If your project will include on the ground practices resulting in pollution reductions, indicators must be entered.