Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS NHQ 11 02
Apply for USDA NRCS NHQ 11 02
- The Natural Resources Conservation Service in the agriculture environment natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2011 CIG Greenhouse Gas (GHG)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.912 Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
- This funding opportunity was created on Dec 10, 2010 and posted on Dec 10, 2010.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 11, 2011. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The funding agency has allocated a total of $5,000,000.00 to eligible and selected applicants.
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 60 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: State governments Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Small businesses Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized) City or township governments Public and State controlled institutions of higher education Special district governments Individuals Private institutions of higher education For profit organizations other than small businesses County governments.
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Opportunity Summary:
The 2011 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) opportunity, offered by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is designed to speed up the real world use of innovative conservation practices and tools on agricultural land, specifically those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or increase carbon sequestration. The core idea is to take conservation approaches that already have evidence behind them and push them into broader adoption through pilot projects and field demonstrations, while also building practical pathways for those approaches to be incorporated into NRCS policy and standard guidance (such as technical manuals and the Field Office Technical Guide) or adopted widely by the private sector.
A key point in this announcement is what the program will and will not support. CIG is not a research grant in the traditional sense. Projects that are mainly about forming hypotheses or conducting basic research do not qualify. Instead, the expectation is that applicants will apply proven or sufficiently studied technologies and management systems that have already shown they can work. In other words, this funding is meant to help move workable conservation solutions from "known to be effective" into "implemented at scale," with a strong emphasis on sharing knowledge, tools, and capacity among partners so that the benefits are accessible beyond a single organization or location.
For this specific GHG-focused competition, NRCS is looking for projects that not only implement greenhouse gas-benefiting practices on farms and ranches, but also create the framework needed to measure and monetize those benefits through carbon markets. The grantee is expected to recruit and secure participation from agricultural producers, establish baseline greenhouse gas emissions and/or carbon sequestration levels, verify that the agreed practices are installed and maintained, and quantify the resulting greenhouse gas benefits in a way that demonstrates "additionality" (meaning the reductions or sequestration are above what would have happened without the project). The intent is to generate credible outcomes that can be registered with a commonly recognized carbon registry. On top of registration, applicants are expected to build practical linkages between those registered credits and existing or emerging market structures, so the project is not just measuring climate benefits but actively connecting producers to mechanisms that can reward those benefits financially.
The opportunity is closely tied to NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS indicates it intends to use EQIP, through its regular program authorities, to contract directly with participating producers and provide incentive payments for adopting the GHG-benefiting practices. This matters because it sets conditions for participation: producers involved must be eligible to receive EQIP payments directly, and the conservation practices implemented must already be approved in the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG). At the same time, NRCS signals openness to innovation in practice adoption by encouraging successful grantees to help identify potential new practices that NRCS could add to the FOTG as interim practices for use within EQIP in the awarded project areas. In practical terms, this means projects should both use existing approved practices and also help NRCS expand its menu of climate-relevant practices where appropriate.
Awards are made as discretionary grants, with a cost sharing or matching requirement. Total estimated funding for the competition is $5,000,000, with an award ceiling of $2,000,000 and no stated award floor. NRCS anticipated making about 60 awards. Projects may be single-year or multi-year, but they cannot exceed three years in duration. The funding opportunity is associated with CFDA 10.912 (Environmental Quality Incentives Program), and the activity areas are agriculture, environment, and natural resources.
Eligibility is broad and includes federally recognized Tribal governments, state and local governments (including counties, cities/townships, and special districts), nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, small businesses, other for-profit organizations (excluding small businesses), and individuals. Applications were accepted from all 50 states as well as the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). The application window for this specific announcement opened with a posted date of December 10, 2010, and closed February 11, 2011 (with an archive date of March 31, 2011).
The selection process described is multi-step and compliance-driven. Applications are first screened for completeness and adherence to the requirements in the notice; incomplete submissions are removed from consideration. Complete applications are then reviewed by a technical peer review panel using evaluation criteria laid out in the application instructions (referenced as Section VI.B in the notice). Applications that receive technically grounded recommendations move forward to the Grants Review Board, which makes funding recommendations to the NRCS Chief, who makes the final award selections.
In short, this grant opportunity targets hands-on, field-based projects that deploy already-supported conservation practices to deliver measurable greenhouse gas benefits on agricultural lands, while building the measurement, verification, registry, and market connections needed to translate those benefits into credible carbon credits. The program is structured to leverage EQIP payments to producers, require cost share from applicants, and ultimately help NRCS and the broader agricultural sector normalize and scale climate-benefiting conservation systems.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the 2011 CIG Greenhouse Gas (GHG) opportunity?
The 2011 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) opportunity is a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) discretionary grant competition focused on speeding up the real-world use of innovative conservation practices and tools on agricultural land that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or increase carbon sequestration.
What is the main purpose of this funding?
The purpose is to move conservation approaches that already have evidence of effectiveness into broader adoption through pilot projects and field demonstrations, and to create practical pathways for those approaches to be incorporated into NRCS policy and standard guidance (for example, NRCS technical manuals and the Field Office Technical Guide) or adopted widely by the private sector.
Is this grant intended to fund research?
No. This opportunity is explicitly not a traditional research grant. Projects that are primarily about forming hypotheses or conducting basic research are not eligible. The expectation is that applicants will apply proven or sufficiently studied technologies and management systems that have already shown they can work.
What types of projects does NRCS want to support under this GHG-focused competition?
NRCS is looking for hands-on, field-based projects on farms and ranches that implement greenhouse-gas-benefiting conservation practices and also build the framework needed to measure those benefits, demonstrate additionality, register the outcomes with a recognized carbon registry, and connect registered credits to existing or emerging carbon market structures.
What does the program mean by moving solutions into "implemented at scale"?
It means taking conservation practices and tools that already have evidence behind them and expanding their adoption beyond a single organization or location. Projects are expected to share knowledge, tools, and capacity among partners so that the approach can be replicated and used more broadly.
What is expected regarding carbon markets and monetization?
For this competition, projects are expected to create a credible pathway to measure and monetize greenhouse gas benefits through carbon markets. That includes quantifying benefits, establishing that benefits are additional, registering outcomes with a commonly recognized carbon registry, and building practical linkages so the credits can connect to market structures that could financially reward producers.
What is "additionality" in the context of this opportunity?
Additionality means the greenhouse gas reductions and/or carbon sequestration achieved through the project are above what would have occurred without the project. The project is expected to quantify benefits in a way that demonstrates this concept.
What producer participation responsibilities are described for the grantee?
The grantee is expected to recruit and secure participation from agricultural producers, establish baseline greenhouse gas emissions and/or sequestration levels, verify that agreed practices are installed and maintained, and quantify the resulting greenhouse gas benefits for credible registry and market use.
How is this opportunity connected to EQIP?
This opportunity is closely tied to NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS indicates it intends to use EQIP, through its regular authorities, to contract directly with participating producers and provide incentive payments for adopting the greenhouse-gas-benefiting practices.
Do producers have to be eligible for EQIP to participate?
Yes. NRCS indicates producers involved must be eligible to receive EQIP payments directly, because NRCS intends to use EQIP to contract with producers for incentive payments related to the practices implemented.
Do the conservation practices have to be already approved by NRCS?
Yes. The practices implemented must already be approved in the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG), because the opportunity is structured to rely on EQIP contracting and incentive payments for those practices.
Can projects propose new conservation practices not currently in the FOTG?
The opportunity emphasizes using existing approved practices, but NRCS also encourages successful grantees to help identify potential new practices NRCS could add to the FOTG as interim practices for use within EQIP in the awarded project areas.
What is the total estimated funding available for this competition?
The total estimated funding for the competition is $5,000,000.
What is the maximum award amount?
The award ceiling is $2,000,000.
Is there a minimum (floor) award amount?
No award floor is stated in the information provided.
How many awards did NRCS anticipate making?
NRCS anticipated making about 60 awards.
How long can a project last?
Projects may be single-year or multi-year, but the duration cannot exceed three years.
Are matching funds or cost share required?
Yes. Awards are made as discretionary grants with a cost sharing or matching requirement.
What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?
The funding opportunity is associated with CFDA 10.912 (Environmental Quality Incentives Program).
What activity areas does this opportunity fall under?
The activity areas are agriculture, environment, and natural resources.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility includes federally recognized Tribal governments; state and local governments (including counties, cities/townships, and special districts); nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; small businesses; other for-profit organizations (excluding small businesses); and individuals.
Where were applications accepted from?
Applications were accepted from all 50 states, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).
What were the key dates for this announcement?
The posted date was December 10, 2010. The application closing date was February 11, 2011. The archive date was March 31, 2011.
How does the selection and review process work?
The process is multi-step. Applications are first screened for completeness and compliance with the notice requirements; incomplete submissions are removed. Complete applications are reviewed by a technical peer review panel using evaluation criteria referenced as Section VI.B in the notice. Applications with technically grounded recommendations move to the Grants Review Board, which makes funding recommendations to the NRCS Chief, and the NRCS Chief makes final award selections.
What happens if an application is incomplete or does not follow the notice requirements?
Applications are screened for completeness and adherence to requirements, and incomplete submissions are removed from consideration.
What kinds of outcomes are projects expected to produce?
Projects are expected to produce measurable greenhouse gas benefits (emissions reductions and/or increased carbon sequestration), credible measurement and verification outputs, baseline establishment, proof of practice installation and maintenance, and results suitable for registration with a commonly recognized carbon registry, along with market linkages that connect credits to buyers or market structures.
What is the role of demonstration and knowledge-sharing in this opportunity?
Demonstration and knowledge-sharing are central. The opportunity is designed around pilot projects and field demonstrations, with an emphasis on sharing knowledge, tools, and capacity among partners so benefits and methods extend beyond a single site or organization and can support broader adoption and potential incorporation into NRCS guidance.
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