GALLIPOLIS — Over $11 million in financial assistance is available to Ohio agricultural producers to apply conservation practices on their farms through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). To be considered for the first round of funding selections, farmers must apply at the (your county) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office by Feb. 16. EQIP is offered through a continuous sign-up, but NRCS periodically makes funding selections as program dollars allow.

EQIP offers technical and financial assistance to install conservation practices. This voluntary program aims at conserving, protecting, and restoring soil and water quality, air quality, and habitat for plants and animals. A variety of conservation practices are used to achieve the natural resources management goals of the producer.

An environmental ranking score is developed for each applicant from a conservation plan which considers national, state, and local natural resource concerns.

When the application is scored, it is compared to other applications and ranked according to the environmental benefit of the conservation plan. To improve the chance of funding for special categories of natural resource concerns or crops, a number of unique EQIP subgroups have been developed. These include:

• Specialty crops

• Livestock

• Cropland and pastureland

• Forest land

• Forest land, invasive species control — Adams, Athens, Champaign, Clark, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Madison, Meigs, Morgan, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton, and Washington counties.

• Air quality — Adams, Ashtabula, Belmont, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Gallia, Greene, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Lorain, Medina, Montgomery, Portage, Scioto, Stark, Summit, Warren, and Washington counties.

For information or to apply for EQIP, contact Ralph Crawford at (740) 446-6173 or go online to www.oh.nrcs.usda.gov/.