USDA Conservation Innovation Grants Awarded To Tennesseans

Grants Will Help Producers Conserve and Sustain Natural Resources

(Nashville) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is awarding Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to three Tennessee applicants. The grants, totaling more than $840,000, will fund projects to develop and refine cutting-edge technologies and approaches to help Tennessee farmers conserve and sustain natural resources. The Tennessee projects selected are among 55 projects being funded by the USDA throughout the country.

"New technology can play an important role in addressing environmental problems, and the Obama Administration is committed to developing innovative solutions to natural resource management and conservation issues facing farmers and ranchers," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in announcing the grants. "These Conservation Innovation Grants will benefit both agriculture and the environment by getting 21st century ideas in the hands of our producers across the country."

Tennessee’s Acting State Conservationist John Rissler says the grant awards are a first for Tennessee. “This is the first year our state has been awarded national Conservation Innovation Grants,” Rissler said. “We’re excited about the benefits these new technologies will bring to agriculture and environment in Tennessee.”

The Conservation Innovation Grant program is designed to speed the transfer and enhance use of technologies and methods that show promise in solving the nation's top natural resource problems by targeting innovative, on-the-ground conservation. Approved projects address issues such as water quantity and quality, grazing lands, soil and forest health, and air quality.

"The Conservation Innovation Grant program enables USDA to review, field test, and demonstrate practices and ideas that have yet to be successfully mainstreamed into our portfolio of practice options," said Dave White, Chief of the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which administers the program and provides technical oversight for each project.

The Tennessee projects receiving Conservation Innovation Grant funding include:

• James E Bradbury $100,000



Middle Tennessee Agriculture Resource Management - Water Project


The purpose is to develop a prioritized set of rules for precision agriculture mapping packages to aid in selection of land areas within a farmstead that are best suited to handle the nutrient loading associated with animal waste application to minimize impacts on water quality.



• Buck Farms LP $76,000



Innovative cattle solid waste system


The purpose is to develop and demonstrate innovative cattle solid waste handling systems that efficiently bales bedding and manure to improve storage, transportation and land application logistics and nutrient management.



• University of Tennessee $665,361



Enhancing Resource Conservation through Low-Input Grazing: Native Warm-season Grasses on Mid-South Farms


The purpose is to demonstrate the use of native warm-season grasses as a low-input grazing system with significant resource conservation benefits to regional producers.

Grantees provide matching funds, bringing the total value of the approved projects in Tennessee to $1.7 Million. Additional information about CIG, including summaries of approved projects, is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig. A listing of all fiscal year 2009 CIG projects can be found at www.nrcs.usda.gov.

For more information about USDA Farm Bill programs, go to www.tn.nrcs.usda.gov/. NRCS is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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