1998 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM 

                                            Release No. 0036.98
                                                               
                                    Tom Amontree (202) 720-4623
                                          tom.amontree@usda.gov
                                      Diana Morse (202 720-4772
                                           diana.morse@usda.gov
                                                                 
  
  GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES $200 MILLION FOR 1998 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES
  PROGRAM 
   
   WASHINGTON,  Jan. 26, 1998--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
  announced state funding allocations for $200 million for 1998 under USDA's
  Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
   
   "The EQIP program proved itself a winner from the start," said
  Glickman.  "In less than a year it has become one of the most popular
  conservation programs at USDA, not to mention its long term environmental
  benefits.
  
   "There is a strong demand for voluntary conservation efforts, and EQIP
  helps farmers and ranchers meet that demand with financial, technical, and
  educational assistance, as well as incentives, " Glickman said.
  
   Under EQIP, USDA can provide cost-share assistance to family-sized
  farms and ranches for up to 75 percent of the costs of certain
  environmental protection practices, such as grassed waterways, filter
  strips, manure management facilities, capping abandoned wells, and
  wildlife habitat enhancement.
  
   USDA also may provide incentive payments to encourage producers to
  apply such land management practices as nutrient, manure, irrigation
  water, wildlife, and integrated pest management. 
  
   EQIP was authorized by the 1996 Farm Bill to address agriculture's
  priority natural resource and environmental problems.  It reflects the
  commitment of USDA and the Congress for a flexible, effective, voluntary
  conservation program for agricultural land.
  
   One emphasis in EQIP is the leveraging of EQIP funds with other
  conservation efforts to foster even greater stewardship of natural
  resources.  This has happened around the country.   Examples include:
   
   --Among the efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Deer Creek EQIP
  priority area in Harford County, Maryland, is helping farmers address
  animal waste, the top concern in that area.  In addition to EQIP funds,
  the Maryland Department of Agriculture provides cost-share funds and the
  combined funding has made it possible for dairy farmers, for example, to
  upgrade animal waste storage facilities that were prohibitively expensive
  before.  In 1998, EQIP will also be used to assist with the Maryland
  programs to address toxic Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake Bay drainage areas.
  
   --In North Carolina, more than $700,000 of EQIP funds will be joined
  this year with more than $800,000 of state cost-share funds to reduce
  nitrogen in the Neuse River basin by 30 percent.  Massive fish kills and
  the discovery of Pfiesteria in the Neuse have brought this river national
  attention.  Sources of nitrogen in the basin include swine and poultry
  operations, municipal sewage, and agricultural runoff.  NRCS, the
  Cooperative Extension Service, and the North Carolina Division of Soil and
  Water Conservation have formed a partnership to help landowners in the
  basin design and install best management practices.  Common practices that
  will be used include nutrient management plans, riparian buffers, filter
  strips, conservation tillage, crop rotations, stripcropping, and animal
  waste treatment facilities.
  
   --In Wisconsin, the Oneida Tribe and two county land conservation
  departments have formed a partnership to reduce nonpoint source pollution
  in the Duck and Ashwaubenon Creek watersheds in cooperation with local,
  tribal, state, and federal agencies.  In addition to the 1998 EQIP
  proposal for vegetative buffers, wetland restoration, nutrient and pest
  management, and improved tillage, the state is projecting its funding at
  $10-$15 million over a 10-year period in this priority area.
  
   In 1997, the first year of the EQIP program, USDA approved 23,000
  long-term contracts with farmers and ranchers.  Nearly 58,000 applications
  for assistance were received, with requests totaling more than three times
  the amount of available funding.
  
   EQIP assistance is provided primarily to state priority areas.  Each
  state's priority areas were determined locally and then approved by the
  NRCS state conservationist, in conjunction with state technical committees
  and USDA Farm Service Agency personnel.  Under EQIP, priority areas are
  watersheds, or geographic regions, with (1) special environmental
  sensitivity, such as important wetland areas, or (2) significant  natural
  resource concerns, such as manure management, soil erosion control, and
  water quality. 
   
   For 1998, producers will be able to sign EQIP contracts once state
  priority areas are selected for funding.  In the meantime, producers may
  contact local USDA Service Centers and NRCS, which administers the
  program, for information on possible eligibility for EQIP.  Producers also
  can work with NRCS to develop their own conservation plans which are
  required for any EQIP contract.
  
  State funding for EQIP program assistance announced by the Secretary is
  as follows:
  
     Environmental Quality Incentives Program
       Fiscal Year 1998 Funds Distribution
  
  State                               Amount
  
  Alabama                          $  3,200,000
  Alaska                                432,000
  Arizona                             5,069,000
  Arkansas                            6,490,000
  California                          7,558,000
  Colorado                            6,386,000
  Connecticut                           614,000
  Delaware                            1,113,000
  Florida                             4,774,000
  Georgia                             4,267,000
  Hawaii                              1,051,000
  Idaho                               4,143,000
  Illinois                            4,198,000
  Indiana                             3,180,000
  Iowa                                5,490,000
  Kansas                              5,188,000
  Kentucky                            2,891,000
  Louisiana                           5,311,000
  Maine                               2,545,000
  Maryland                            2,249,000
  Massachusetts                         860,000
  Michigan                            4,157,000
  Minnesota                           5,569,000
  Mississippi                         5,391,000
  Missouri                            4,975,000
  Montana                             6,264,000
  Nebraska                            5,023,000
  Nevada                              1,507,000
  New Hampshire                         372,000
  New Jersey                          1,070,000
  New Mexico                          3,865,000
  New York                            4,560,000
  North Carolina                      5,720,000
  North Dakota                        4,479,000
  Ohio                                3,284,000
  Oklahoma                            5,391,000
  Oregon                              4,219,000
  Pacific Basin                         516,000
  Pennsylvania                        4,180,000
  Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands        1,159,000
  Rhode Island                          245,000
  South Carolina                      2,080,000
  South Dakota                        4,348,000
  Tennessee                           3,056,000
  Texas                              16,335,000
  Utah                                3,838,000
  Vermont                             1,218,000
  Virginia                            2,631,000
  Washington                          4,999,000
  West Virginia                       1,809,000
  Wisconsin                           4,356,000
  Wyoming                             3,875,000
  
  Subtotal Distributed              197,500,000
  Not Yet Distributed                 2,500,000
  EQIP U.S. Total                   200,000,000   
  
                              #
  
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