The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) is seeking applications for its Clean Water Fund Soil Health Grants Program to provide funding for farmers, via local government units, who own or rent land to enhance the adoption of cover crops and other soil health practices in areas where there are direct benefits to public water supplies.
Donor Name: Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
State: Minnesota
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 05/09/2022
Grant Size: Up to $3,500,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Priorities
Priority for this program will be given to new adoption and understanding of soil health practices through the following efforts:
- Building local knowledge;
- Facilitating partnerships;
- Demonstrating clean water benefits;
- Identifying methods to increase long term adoption of soil health practices; and
- Scope and scale of implementation efforts in locally prioritized areas that show a direct benefit to public water supplies.
Funding Information
- Up to $3,500,000 is available for this program in FY22.
- Contracts must have a minimum duration of 3 years.
Eligible Core Soil Health Practices
The following core soil health practices are eligible statewide:
- Cover Crops
- Strip-till / No-till
- Perennial Crops
- Stand Diversification
- Perennial Strips
- Agroforestry
- Rotational Grazing
Eligibility Criteria
- As defined in the FY 2022 Clean Water Fund Competitive Grant Policy, eligible applicants include:
- Local government units (counties, watershed districts, watershed management organizations, and soil and water conservation districts) or local government joint power boards working under a current State approved and locally adopted local water management plan or soil and water conservation district (SWCD) comprehensive plan.
- Municipalities that:
- have a water plan that has been approved by a watershed district or a watershed management organization as provided under Minn. Stat. 103B.235; or
- adopted an approved comprehensive watershed management plan developed under Minn. Stat. 103B.801
- Counties in the seven-county metropolitan area are eligible if they have adopted a county groundwater plan or county comprehensive plan that has been approved by the Metropolitan Council under Minn. Stat. Chapter 473.
- Entities that have not adopted a plan as described above, and therefore not eligible to apply, are encouraged to work with an eligible entity if interested in receiving grant funds.
- LGUs are eligible to receive grant funds if they are working under a current water management plan that has been state approved and locally adopted when the BWSR Board authorizes the grant awards.
For more information, visit Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.
