SUMTER, S.C. — Friday, Nov. 3, is the deadline for all farmers, ranchers and landowners to apply for the first wave of federal funding. There is $3 billion available from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for agricultural producers and forest landowners across the United States.
Larry Harris has been farming for over three decades. He says when he first started, he exhausted all his savings trying to get this farm started.
"Only thing I wanted to do was grow vegetables," Harris said. "I love growing vegetables because I could see and watch it grow."
Harris started farming with just two acres. After years of experience, he now grows all kinds of crops. A lesson he quickly learned was how costly it can be.
"Supplies… it's very expensive. So you have to have some assistance. It is a good thing. It's even better if you can take advantage of it," Harris said. "But the way you take advantage of it is by knowing someone that can tell you where you need to go, how you need to go about doing it."
Help from people like Marie Faatuala with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
"I deal with a lot of socially disadvantaged farmers, you know, and some of them don't have the funds to start their project," Faatuala said. "And some of them don't even know that we exist; some of them are just starting their farm."
Faatuala meets with farmers and helps connect them with federal dollars that they can use to help run their farms. Now, her agency is encouraging farmers across the state to apply for $3 billion, which can help farmers establish practices that will help them protect natural resources on their land to yield better crops. For Harris, assistance like this is helpful.
"Of course, it's good, especially if you want to farm and you don't have the money; the cost, like I said, has increased at least five times [since I started farming]. Not only does the equipment cost, but the materials that you need, the supplies you need, all this stuff costs," Harris said. "You have that ability to get the funds, and the federal government is going to make it available for you? That's astronomical. That's big!"
"It's federal funding, you know, it's free money. You know, it's basically your taxes working for you," Faatuala said. "And I mean, I encourage anybody just to come in, and you never know, you get funded for programs."
The deadline to apply for that funding is the end of Friday, Nov. 3. If you miss that deadline, you can still submit an application that will be considered during a second wave in January.
For help finding out how to submit this application, contact your local NRCS Service Center here.
When it comes to determining how much funding a farmer gets each year, it varies depending on considerations like what conservation concerns are addressed and acreage. NCRS says financial and technical assistance are provided through two programs: the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).
Oct. 1, 2023, marked the start of fiscal year 2024. For the last fiscal year, SC NRCS invested $47.8M between EQIP and CSP, the agency says.