USDA NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

USDA's flagship cost-share program for working agricultural lands. Pays farmers and forest landowners to install conservation practices that protect soil, water, and habitat. Direct relevance to watershed groups working on agricultural runoff.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's largest cost-share program for working farms, ranches, and non-industrial private forests. EQIP pays landowners to install and maintain conservation practices that improve water quality, soil health, air quality, wildlife habitat, and energy efficiency on lands actively in production.Eligible practices that directly benefit water resources include cover crops, no-till and reduced tillage, nutrient management plans, manure storage facilities, riparian forest buffers, fenced livestock exclusion, alternative livestock watering systems, grassed waterways, wetland restoration, and forestry stand improvement. The program operates on annual ranking cycles in each state, with priority resource concerns identified at the state and county level.For watershed groups, EQIP is the way agricultural BMP work gets paid for at scale. Watershed organizations can partner with NRCS staff and conservation districts to recruit landowners, prioritize projects in target sub-watersheds, and provide outreach and technical support — all while NRCS handles the contracting and payments. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act significantly increased EQIP funding levels through at least 2031.