Office Hours with Agriculture Support Agencies

Funding is available for local farmers to implement practices that help reduce runoff, increase soil health, sequester carbon and help soils hold water. Those with questions about state and federal grants available for these efforts are invited to drop-in office hours with local agencies from 2 to 4 pm, Friday, March 1, at the offices of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Tompkins County.

The Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Tompkins/Cortland/Schuyler Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), in collaboration with CCE Tompkins, will be available and offering personalized support at this event. The focus of the session will be on the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Climate Resilient Farming program (CRF).

Note that this session is intended to support those who are ready for planning assistance from agency representatives to seek New York State or Federal funding. If you are interested in more general information about the programs that SWCD and NRCS manage, you should plan to attend the CCE Tompkins Ag Summit, to be held on March 18, where agency staff will provide overviews of the funding that is available. You can also contact SWCD and NRCS with questions at any time.

NRCS: Contact Erin Kurtz erin.kurtz@usda.gov or James Schleppenbach James.Schleppenbach@usda.gov, or call (607) 257-2737.

SWCD: Contact Devin Cox dcox@tompkins-co.org or Paul Gier PGier@tompkins-co.org, or call (607) 257-2340.

If there are particular topics that local farmers would like to see addressed in a session with SWCD and NRCS, please reach out and share. Planning for future events will be based on feedback and experience from this initial session. For questions or more information, Graham Savio, CCE Tompkins Agriculture and Horticulture Issue Leader, at gs695@cornell.edu.

Last updated June 24, 2024