Compost Reimbursement Program

WSDA is excited to announce the launch of the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Compost Reimbursement Program (established under RCW 15.04.420). For participating farms, the program will pay up to 50% of the cost to obtain, transport, and spread eligible compost, not to exceed $10,000, per farm per fiscal year. For incurred costs to be found eligible, compost must be purchased from a compost facility with a solid waste handling permit (map found here).

Applications for Fiscal Year 2024 (July 2023-June 2024) will open Monday, 10/16/2023, at 1:00 pm PST. To apply, submit an eligibility application here: https://arcg.is/18PP5L. Responses will be processed on a first come, first served basis until we reach our participation limit. After which time, the survey will close unless more applications are considered later this year.

If found eligible to participate in the program, the following steps must be completed before compost is transported and applied, to qualify for reimbursement:

1. Sign the Grant Agreement Contract within 60 days of receipt. For farms on leased land, landowner permission and signature will be required.
2. Complete the Crop & Field Survey.
3. Collect a soil sample prior to compost application. 

Once each of the above steps are completed, participating farms can submit a reimbursement application to our Plant Inspection Services & Certification Electronic System (PISCES). This application will include itemized costs, a brief description of how each item was used, and an invoice, receipt or other documentation associated with that cost.

For more information on this program, please visit bit.ly/wsdacompost. If you have any questions regarding the application and review process, please contact WSDA at compost@agr.wa.gov or (360) 890-0625.

Disaster Set-Aside Program for Farm Loan Borrowers

Farm Service Agency (FSA) borrowers with farms located in designated primary or contiguous disaster areas who are unable to make their scheduled FSA loan payments should consider the Disaster Set-Aside (DSA) program.

DSA is available to producers who suffered losses as a result of a natural disaster and relieves immediate and temporary financial stress. FSA is authorized to consider setting aside the portion of a payment/s needed for the operation to continue on a viable scale.

Borrowers must have at least two years left on the term of their loan in order to qualify. 

Borrowers have eight months from the date of the disaster designation to submit a complete application. The application must include a written request for DSA signed by all parties liable for the debt along with production records and financial history for the operating year in which the disaster occurred. FSA may request additional information from the borrower in order to determine eligibility. 

All farm loans must be current or less than 90 days past due at the time the DSA application is complete. Borrowers may not set aside more than one installment on each loan. 

The amount set-aside, including interest accrued on the principal portion of the set-aside, is due on or before the final due date of the loan. 

For more information, contact your loan staff based out of the Spokane County USDA Service Center at (509) 381-6734 or visit fsa.usda.gov.

Milk Loss Assistance for Dairy Operations Impacted by 2020, 2021 and 2022 Disaster Events

The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Milk Loss Program (MLP) assistance for eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed, without compensation, from the commercial milk market due to qualifying weather events and the consequences of those weather events that inhibited delivery or storage of milk (e.g., power outages, impassable roads, infrastructure losses, etc.) during calendar years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Eligibility 

MLP compensates dairy operations for milk dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market due to qualifying disaster events, including droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), and smoke exposure that occurred in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 calendar years. Tornadoes are considered a qualifying disaster event for calendar year 2022 only. 

The milk loss claim period is each calendar month that milk was dumped or removed from the commercial market. Each MLP application covers the loss in a single calendar month. Milk loss that occurs in more than one calendar month due to the same qualifying weather event requires a separate application for each month.   

The days that are eligible for assistance begin on the date the milk was removed or dumped and for concurrent days milk was removed or dumped. Once the dairy operation restarts milk marketing, the dairy operation is ineligible for assistance unless after restarting commercial milk marketing, additional milk is dumped due to the same qualifying disaster event. The duration of yearly claims is limited to 30 days per year for 2020, 2021 and 2022. 

Environmental Qualities Incentive Program

EQIP provides technical and financial assistance to agricultural producers and forest landowners to address natural resource concerns, such as:

• Improved water and air quality
• Conserved ground and surface water
• Increased soil health
• Reduced soil erosion and sedimentation
• Improved or created wildlife habitat
• Mitigation against drought and increasing weather volatility

How It Works

NRCS works one-on-one with producers to develop a conservation plan that outlines conservation practices and activities to help solve on-farm resource issues. Producers implement practices and activities in their conservation plan that can lead to cleaner water and air, healthier soil and better wildlife habitat, all while improving their agricultural operations. EQIP helps producers make conservation work for them. Financial assistance for practices may be available through EQIP. Some producers may also qualify for advance payment.

Farmer/Rancher SARE Grant

The Western SARE Farmer/Rancher Research & Education Grant Program focuses on advancing on-farm sustainability solutions by funding innovative producer-driven research and outreach. This grant program involves agricultural producers (main applicants) and technical advisor(s) implementing projects to address identified needs in sustainable agriculture.

How the Program Works

Projects with 1-2 producers may apply for up to $25,000 and projects with 3 or more producers working together may apply for up to $29,900.

With a Farmer/Rancher Grant, a producer and a technical advisor work together to develop a project (1-3 years in scope) that conducts both research and outreach on a sustainable agriculture topic. With the support and guidance of the technical advisor, producers must integrate research and education to conduct on-site/on-farm experiments to address social, environmental, and economic aspects of agricultural sustainability.

The goal of this program is to achieve results that can be communicated to other producers and professionals; sustain and improve the environmental quality and natural resource base on which agriculture depends; improve the profitability of producers and associated agricultural businesses; and enhance the quality of life for producers in local communities. Outreach activities may include on-farm/ranch demonstrations, farmer-to-farmer educational activities, and other approaches to assist producer adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

Conservation Innovation Grants- Classic

The purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies in conjunction with agricultural production.

CIG projects present innovations that are expected to result in the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and inventive approaches to agricultural producers (such as market-based systems) into technical manuals and guides and to be used in the private sector.

CIG generally funds pilot projects, field demonstrations, and on-farm conservation research. On-farm conservation research is defined as an investigation conducted to answer a specific applied conservation question using a statistically valid design while employing farm-scale equipment on farms, ranches, or private forest lands.

Organic Certification Cost Share Program

Administered by the Farm Service Agency, OCCSP provides organic producers and handlers with financial assistance to reduce the cost of organic certification. The program reimburses producers and handlers for a portion of their paid certification costs. Once certified, organic producers and handlers are eligible to receive reimbursement for 75 percent of certification costs for program year 2023, up to a maximum of $750 per certification scope—crops, livestock, wild crops, handling, and State Organic Program fees.

Certified organic producers and handlers who have paid certification fees during the 2023 program years may apply for reimbursement of the incurred costs.