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The Blair County Conservation District board has approved three projects through the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program, which provides financial and technical assistance to implement best management practices.
Blair County has been allocated $1.6 million to assist in efforts by county farmers to protect water quality while maintaining production.
Board members approved two construction projects -- a roofed manure stacking area on Penn England Farm, Catharine Township, for an ACAP request of $249,900 and a grassed waterway at Mill Hill Farms in Woodbury Township for an ACAP request of $13,132, said Donna Fisher, conservation district manager.
"Landowners are required to commit a minimum of 10% of the cost of the project," Fisher said.
The board also voted to continue the Cover Crop Incentive Program where landowners are provided with a minimum $25 per acre payment for the establishment of a cover crop on fields for the winter.
"Cover crops have proven to be very efficient in nutrient and sediment pollution reductions as well as promoting improved soil health. The board considered it very important to continue the program to highlight the amount of cover crop that is planted annually in Blair County," Fisher said.
A total of $95,000 was committed to the Cover Crop Incentive Program for 2023-24 and landowners have until Sept. 1 to apply for this year's cover crop payment, Fisher said.
These project allocations will obligate aout 68% of the first of three allocations -- $559,819 annually -- attributed to Blair County. Applications are currently being accepted for the next round of funding and will close on Sept. 29.
Any interested landowners may contact Rich Huether, ag conservation specialist at the Blair County Conservation District, by calling 814-696-0877 ext. 5 or via email to rhuether@blairconservationdistrict.org, Fisher said.
For many years, Pennsylvania has consistently been taken to task by the Environmental Protection Agency and other Chesapeake Bay watershed states for not having dedicated state funding for agricultural conservation practices. ACAP uses short-term federal funding as a down payment on a long-term program that benefits local water quality in every county, said Grant Gulibon, regulatory affairs specialist in the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Government Affairs and Communications Division.
ACAP is administered by the State Conservation Commission.
Each county conservation district receives a three-year allocation based on several criteria. All program money is to be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.