EQIP is our most commonly-used program in Alaska. EQIP provides conservation planning services, technical assistance, and financial assistance to help private landowners conserve natural resources while improving the health and vigor of their agricultural operations.
A conservation plan is a written record of the natural resources on your property and the recommended conservation practices you plan to implement and maintain. The plan includes a map of your property and detailed information about the types of soil and plants on your property. It is a roadmap for the future of your land.
Yes. A Conservation Plan must be completed before an EQIP application can be evaluated and ranked for funding. An NRCS conservation planner will work with you to develop the Conservation Plan for your operation.
A natural resource concern is a problem or issue that impairs the sustainability or intended use of that resource. For example, soil compaction is a natural resource concern that occurs when soil particles become compressed. This can cause the soil to become overly dense, which can impact the rate of water drainage and saturation and can make it harder for roots to effectively penetrate the soil. If left untreated, too much soil compaction can hinder your ability to grow desirable crops.
A conservation practice is an action you take on the property to address a natural resource concern. Conservation practices can be structural activities, such as building a fence. They can be engineering projects, such as designing and installing an irrigation system. They can be vegetative activities, such as
planting trees or shrubs. They also can be management activities that require you to change the way you operate your land, such as changing the crops you plant in certain areas each year (crop rotation).
Applicants must meet three tiers of eligibility for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP):
Producer Eligibility
- Eligible producers include farmers, ranchers, owners of non-industrial private forestland, Tribes, and Alaska Native village and regional corporations.
- Must have a social security number or employer identification number issued by the IRS (entities require a Taxpayer Identification Number).
- Must show control of the land (lease, deed or other agreement) for the length of the NRCS contract (typically three to five years).
- Must have an adjusted gross income of less than $900,000; however this requirement does not apply to Federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native regional or village corporations.
- If the producer is an entity, must have signature authority to make management decisions on the land.
Land Eligibility
- Land must have an agricultural production use such as cropland, hayland, rangeland, pastureland, grassland, non-industrial private forest land, other farm or ranch lands, and environmentally sensitive areas. Lands managed for subsistence are also considered agricultural.
- Land must be in compliance with Highly Erodible Land and wetland compliance provisions. Your local USDA office can help you navigate compliance.
Resource Concern Eligibility
- There must be a valid natural resource problem on the land to receive NRCS financial assistance for the project. An NRCS conservation planner will conduct a site visit with you an help determine specific natural resource concerns on your property.
USDA Farm Record
Additionally, EQIP applicants must have an established USDA Farm Record with the Farm Service Agency.
EQIP application packages must include a valid USDA Farm Record. A Farm Record is an official profile that registers a grower and their agricultural land in the USDA database, assigning the operation unique farm, tract, and field numbers. It serves as the baseline data file required to apply for federal farm loans, disaster relief, crop insurance, and conservation programs. Farm Records are established or updated with the USDA Farm Service Agency.
Contact your local USDA Service Center to establish or update your Farm Record.
Contact your local NRCS Field Office to express your interest in EQIP and schedule a site visit with an NRCS Conservation Planner to start developing your Conservation Plan. NRCS will help guide you through the process.
Fill out the Conservation Program Application (form NRCS-CPA-1200) and submit it to your local NRCS office. All applicants will need to have a Farm Record established with the USDA Farm Service Agency in order to move forward.
NRCS accepts applications for EQIP year-round. NRCS establishes "application batching deadlines" each year, when all applications received up until that date are ranked and prioritized for funding.
NRCS Alaska utilizes a screening tool to manage workload and identify projects that will provide the most environmental benefits. Applications screened low will not be ranked. The local Field Office collects information about the applicants’ agricultural operations through existing information, on-site visits, and/or personal communications and works with the applicant to develop a Conservation Plan. The information collected is used to rank all eligible applications which results in a numerical score. Applications for conservation practices and systems that will result in greater environmental benefits for national, state, and/or local natural resource priorities will receive a higher score and higher priority to receive an offer for a financial assistance contract.
If your application is funded, NRCS will offer you an EQIP contract to receive financial assistance for the cost of implementing practices. An EQIP contract is a legally binding agreement and the participants’ responsibilities are considerable. The best place to learn about these responsibilities is to thoroughly review the NRCS-CPS-1200 Application with Appendix which set forth the terms and conditions of the contract.
Payments you may receive depend on the conservation practices you implement and the state you are in. Each year, NRCS re-evaluates the amount of financial assistance available for each activity in each state. These evaluations consider the current costs for material and labor within the state and also the fair marketplace compensation for opportunity costs that may arise (e.g. conversion of productive land). If necessary, the amount of financial assistance is adjusted to keep pace with actual costs.
View the latest payment schedules at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/getting-assistance/payment-schedules
NRCS does not issue a payment until you have completed the conservation practice and the practice has been certified by NRCS. Certification ensures that the practice meets NRCS conservation practice standards. Payments are issued via Direct Deposit following practice certification.
Advance Payments are an option if a producer qualifies as Historically Underserved. More information on Advance Payments is available at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/eqip-advance-payment-option
Alaska NRCS with the guidance of the State Technical Committee has established the following funding priorities for FY2026:
- Forestry - Applications for resource concerns on forestland
- Wildlife - Applications for wildlife habitat resource concerns on all land uses
- Beginning Farmer - Applicants that self-certify as beginning farmer on the NRCS-CPA-1200 application
- Socially Disadvantaged - Applicants that self-certify as socially disadvantaged on the NRCS-CPA-1200 application
- Working Lands for Wildlife - Applications that meet the WLFW requirements.
In addition, the following initiatives have been made available for FY26:
- ACT NOW allows NRCS to approve and obligate a ranked application in a designated ranking pool when an application meets or exceeds the minimum ranking score (100 points) without waiting until the NRCS field office ranks all applications in the ranking pool. Application to ranking timeframe is 45 days.
- CPA, DIA, CEMA - Conservation Planning Activities (CPAs), Design and Implementation Activities (DIAs), and Conservation Evaluation and Monitoring Activities (CEMAs).
- Tunnels - Conservation Practice High Tunnel Structure and Low Tunnel are used to address plant productivity resource concerns on cropland.
State Priorities
- Increasing fresh water fish habitat and populations
- Protection and enhancement of traditionally and culturally used resources
- Forestland health and wildfire hazard reduction
- Soil health
Ready to get started?
Contact your local service center to start your application.
How to Get Assistance
Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?
Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.
To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. We’ll discuss your vision for your land.
NRCS provides landowners with free technical assistance, or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes: resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. Your conservation planner will help you determine if financial assistance is right for you.
We’ll walk you through the application process. To get started on applying for financial assistance, we’ll work with you:
- To fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.
- To meet other eligibility certifications.
Once complete, we’ll work with you on the application, or CPA 1200.
Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they’re considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time.
As part of the application process, we’ll check to see if you are eligible. To do this, you’ll need to bring:
- An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)
- A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property; and
- A farm number.
If you don’t have a farm number, you can get one from USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Typically, the local FSA office is located in the same building as the local NRCS office. You only need a farm number if you’re interested in financial assistance.
NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants. View Application Ranking Dates by State.
If you’re selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done.
Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you’ll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications.