Rural Cost-Share Program
for
Elkhart River Watershed
(updated
06.27.08)
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Local Cost-share Program
Offers Assistance to Area Farmers |
 A new cost-share program is now
available for farmers in the Elkhart River Watershed, which includes
parts of Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, and Noble counties. The
program will provide financial assistance to farmers who are interested
in installing conservation practices on their land. Applicants can
receive up to 75 percent cost-share on approved practices.
The program was developed to promote conservation practices in farming
operations in order to continue protecting our local water and soil.
A total of eleven practices will be considered for cost-share, these
include: exclusion fencing/stream crossing, rotational grazing, nutrient
management plans, manure management plans, alternative watering systems,
no-till/reduced till (conservation tillage), grassed waterways,
buffer/filter strips, grade-stabilization structures, cover crops, and
wetland restoration.
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 Anyone who farms (crops or livestock) in one of the fourteen
agricultural critical areas within the watershed may be eligible for
assistance. (CAFOs are ineligible due to 319 regulations.)
Interested parties should submit an application to the Elkhart County
Soil and Water Conservation District by June 30, 2008.
Applications received after that date will be accepted, but those
submitted by the deadline will have priority.
Applications are available at the Elkhart County Soil and Water Conservation District office or at
www.elkcoswcd.org or
www.elkhartriveralliance.org.
The agriculture cost-share program is facilitated by an
EPA 319 grant awarded to the Elkhart River Restoration Association and
administered by their partnering organization, the Elkhart River
Alliance. Contact Lynette at the Elkhart County SWCD for more information
at 574-533-3630, ext. 3.
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written by Elkhart County Soil and
Water Conservation District |
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