NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) | USDA NRCS VA CIG 19

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS VA CIG 19

The NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) opportunity is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that focuses on pushing practical, new conservation ideas from concept to real-world use in working agricultural landscapes. The core purpose is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies that can operate alongside agricultural production, meaning the emphasis is on solutions that farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners can realistically use while continuing to run productive operations. The program is geared toward innovations that improve natural resource outcomes, such as soil health, water quality, water conservation, wildlife habitat, and broader resource stewardship, but it is not limited to a single practice area as long as the project clearly advances conservation in an applied, on-the-ground way.

A central expectation of CIG projects is technology and practice transfer. In other words, the work funded is not meant to stay confined to a single test site or a one-off experiment. Projects are expected to produce results, tools, approaches, or systems that can be shared and adopted by agricultural producers, incorporated into NRCS technical manuals and guides, or transitioned to the private sector for broader deployment. The program also explicitly recognizes innovative approaches beyond equipment or field practices, including market-based systems, which can include mechanisms that encourage conservation adoption through incentives, improved market access, or new business models tied to environmental outcomes.

In terms of what CIG typically funds, the opportunity highlights three main project types: pilot projects, field demonstrations, and on-farm conservation research. Pilot projects are generally early-stage implementations designed to show whether an innovation works under realistic conditions and to identify the operational details needed for scaling. Field demonstrations focus on showcasing a practice or technology in a way that producers and partners can observe directly, often with outreach components that support adoption. On-farm conservation research is more formal and is defined in the notice as an investigation designed to answer a specific applied conservation question using a statistically valid design while using farm-scale equipment on farms, ranches, or private forest lands. That definition signals that NRCS is looking for rigorous, credible evidence, but gathered in real production settings rather than controlled laboratory environments.

The grant is identified as USDA NRCS VA CIG 19, with the activity area categorized under Natural Resources and the CFDA number listed as 10.912. The funding instrument is a grant, and the opportunity category is discretionary. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of entity, with the caveat that applicants must still follow any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full announcement. The agency administering the opportunity is NRCS within the Department of Agriculture.

From a funding and competition standpoint, the listed award ceiling is $75,000, with an expectation of approximately 7 awards. The opportunity was created on March 20, 2019, with an original closing date of May 20, 2019. Taken together, those figures suggest a small, competitive funding round aimed at supporting multiple targeted projects rather than a single large-scale initiative, with budgets sized to support applied testing, demonstration, and producer-facing innovation work that can be completed and shared within a manageable project scope.

• The Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.912.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 20, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 20, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $75,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for USDA NRCS VA CIG 19

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