NEWS HIGHLIGHT
WUD secures water quality funding
Western United Dairymen has secured $ 500,000 for water quality projects on
dairies in California’s Central Valley.
April 11, 2011, Modesto,
CA – Western United Dairymen has secured $500,000 for water quality projects on
dairies in California’s Central Valley.
The funding is provided
through the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), part of the 2008
Farm Bill conservation title, and is administered by the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS).
Paul Martin, WUD’s
director of environmental services, says that despite the difficult economic
climate, dairy producers in the Central Valley have worked hard to put in place
all the required professional planning for manure management required by water
quality regulations.
“With this new funding
we will begin to implement those plans and actually lay the pipeline and build
the infrastructure to handle water and manage manure in a very environmentally
protective way,” said Martin.
“AWEP is a voluntary
conservation initiative that provides financial and technical assistance to
farmers and ranchers to improve water conditions and conserve valuable water
resources on their agricultural land,” said Ed Burton, NRCS state
conservationist for California.
AWEP is a subpart of the
NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). AWEP differs from traditional
EQIP in that proposals for funding are made directly to USDA by organizations
on behalf of a group of agricultural producers. In this case, WUD applied for
the funding and will help coordinate activities, although all the funding will
go directly to the dairy producers.
NRCS California has 24
other AWEP projects from funds received in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The
projects are aimed at improving irrigation efficiency, nutrient management,
groundwater quality and other conservation goals. NRCS will announce
sign-up information, for dairy producers located in the Central Valley from
Redding to Bakersfield, in the coming weeks.
For a listing of NRCS
offices statewide see http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=CA
