Grants

The program awards competitive grants that accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture principles and conservation practices on private working lands in priority geographic areas. Grant recipients provide technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to help them develop management plans, design and implement best practices, participate in Farm Bill programs, and share their experiences and lessons learned. This work enhances wildlife habitat, soil health, water conservation and quality, and carbon storage while providing important social and economic benefits to agricultural producers. Approximately $6.7 million in grant funding is available under this funding opportunity.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission is offering a new grant program to project sponsors specifically targeted to support the collection and reporting of water level data in groundwater production wells in the basin.

Grant funding is focused on needs such as purchasing, installing, or maintaining water level monitoring equipment, to provide the appropriate data collection methods to meet the Commission’s requirements to monitor and report operational data. Funding should have the potential to positively impact a project sponsor’s ability to report reliable water level data, develop a valuable resource of operational water level data, prepare for the permit renewal process, and allow informed management of a water system.

Grants may be used for projects that are not currently collecting water level data from their well(s) or may be used to upgrade equipment: to address equipment failure; to achieve better accuracy; to improve efficiency; or to automate water level measurement/recording.

The Department of Agriculture (Department) is soliciting applications to conduct agricultural research on one or more of the following research topic areas, with the research to be conducted from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, with the possibility, but not the assurance, of extending that research into subsequent years.

 Some topics include: various multiyear research projects, climate adaptation and mitigation, spotted lanternfly, conservation BMPs, the PA Pollinator Protection Plan, dairy product research, blockchain technology, workforce development, urban agriculture, pesticide impacts, noxious weeds, etc. 

Interested applicants must submit a complete electronic research project proposal and grant application using the Department of Community and Economic Development's Electronic Single Application web site at https://www.esa.dced.state.pa.us/Login.aspx on Friday, June 25, 2021, by 4 p.m. PAST DUE - Check back for more funding opportunities next year. 

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) the country's largest private-land conservation program. Administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), CREP targets specific State or nationally significant conservation concerns, and federal funds are supplemented with non-federal funds to address those concerns. In exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from production and establishing permanent resource conserving plant species, farmers and ranchers are paid an annual rental rate along with other federal and non-federal incentives as applicable per each CREP agreement. Participation is voluntary, and the contract period is typically 10-15 years.

For more information on the CREP program within Pennsylvania's portion of the Delaware River basin click here.