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Natural Resources Conservation Service
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Welcome to the Indiana NRCS Website

 

Soil Health A Top Priority for Indiana NRCS

 

Indiana farmers are on a Health Kick!  Soil Health is soil managed to its maximum potential through a system of conservation practices, including never-till, cover crops, advanced nutrient and pest management, and buffers and drainage systems where appropriate.  This approach results in healthy soil that reduces erosion, requires less nutrient inputs, manages the effects of flood and drought, and reduces nutrient and sediment loading to streams and rivers.  Indiana success with this approach, being promoted through the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative, is getting national attention and will be a focus of NRCS this year.  For more information on Indiana Soil Health click here http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/Soil%20Health/soil_health.html

 

NEW!  National Water Quality Initiative

Through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering financial and technical assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners interested in improving water quality and aquatic habitats in priority watersheds with impaired streams. NRCS will help producers implement conservation and management practices through a systems approach to control and trap nutrient and manure runoff. Qualified producers will receive assistance for installing conservation practices such as cover crops, filter strips and terraces. For over 75 years, NRCS has provided agricultural producers with assistance to implement voluntary conservation practices that protect natural resources while maintaining production and profits.

 

This initiative will utilize 5% of Indiana’s EQIP allocation to accelerate efforts to improve water quality in three 12-digit watersheds with streams designated by the EPA for the Clean Water Act section 303(d) list of impaired waters.  For more information, go to Indiana's National Water Quality Initiative webpage

 

USDA is Celebrating 150 Years

True to his roots as a frontier farm boy, on May 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

On April 27, 1935 Congress passed Public Law 74-46, in which it recognized that "the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands...is a menace to the national welfare" and established the Soil Conservation Service (now know as the Natural Resources Conservation Service) as a permanent agency in the USDA.

 

NRCS draws on a long history of helping people help the land. For more than 75 years, NRCS and its predecessor agencies have worked in close partnerships with farmers and ranchers, local and state governments, and other federal agencies to maintain healthy and productive working landscapes.

 

Visit www.usda.gov/usda150  to learn more about USDA’s history and plans for the future. The new site provides information about events, facts and goings-on related to the anniversary.

 

In the News

 

 

Features

 

 

Conservation Accomplishment Web Site Launched
The Indiana Conservation Partnership (ICP) has launched a new Web site that provides information on Indiana's conservation investments made with local, state, and federal funding. This tool provides reports on all ICP conservation work accomplishments for each county and  statewide. 

 

 

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USDA-NRCS is an equal opportunity provider and employer

Last Modified 05/10/2012