As you may be aware, there is a growing influx of funding to promote soil health and its many co-benefits, both at the federal and state level. As a network of partners working to increase coordination and collaboration around soil health in the commonwealth, the Virginia Soil Health Coalition is excited about the opportunity to help bring funds to Virginia to meet the needs of farmers, landowners, and practitioners in a way that is as collaborative and coordinated as possible.
The Coalition wants to create space for cross talk happening around project ideas and opportunities so that those of us working in soil health in VA are aware of what others are doing and do not duplicate efforts, if possible, and to potentially collaborate and/or identify shared goals across projects.
Thinking about applying for one of the grants? Have a project idea but don’t know where to start or what partners to involve? Reach out to Mary Sketch Bryant, Coordinator of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition at msketch2@vt.edu.
Find out more about several of the existing opportunities below and follow the link to read the full request for proposals:
"The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to the resource concerns they seek to address." Applications for both the traditional and alternative funding arrangements are due April 13th.
NFWF is specifically soliciting proposals under the Small Watershed Grants (SWG) program for projects within the Chesapeake Bay watershed that promote voluntary, community-based efforts to protect and restore the diverse and vital habitats of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers and streams. NFWF will award funding through two distinct funding opportunities: SWG Implementation (SWG-I) grants of $75,000-$500,000 will be awarded for projects that result in direct, on-the-ground actions to protect and restore water quality, species, and habitats in the Bay watershed; SWG Planning and Technical Assistance (SWG-PTA) grants up to $75,000 will be awarded for projects that enhance local capacity to implement future on-the-ground actions through community-based assessment, planning, design, and other technical assistance-oriented activities. Applications are due April 21st.
"Up to approximately $1 billion will be made available for the Partnerships for Climate‐Smart Commodities projects through this funding opportunity, which will build markets and invest in America’s climate‐smart farmers, ranchers, and forest owners to strengthen U.S. rural and agricultural communities. Through the Partnerships for Climate‐Smart Commodities, USDA will support the production and marketing of climate‐smart commodities through a set of pilot projects that provide voluntary incentives through partners to producers and land owners." There are two funding pools with proposals for the first funding pool ($5M to $99.9M) due May 6th and proposals for the second pool ($250k-$4.99M) due June 10th.