Announcement for Program Funding for NRCS’ Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2019 – CALIFORNIA | USDA NRCS CA CIG 19 GEN0010105

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS CA CIG 19 GEN0010105

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), offered this California-specific Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) funding opportunity for federal fiscal year 2019 to help move new conservation ideas from concept to real-world use. The main purpose of the program is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, meaning the focus is on testing, demonstrating, and encouraging practical tools or methods that improve conservation outcomes in agriculture and working lands. Projects supported under this announcement had to be carried out in the state of California, so the expected benefits and on-the-ground activities were California-based.

This was a discretionary grant program (not a formula allocation), and the funding instrument was a grant. The opportunity covered topics broadly connected to agriculture, the environment, natural resources, and science and technology or other research and development, reflecting CIGs emphasis on innovation and measurable conservation improvement. The associated CFDA number was 10.912, which is the federal assistance listing used to track this conservation grant program.

In terms of who could apply, the competition was open to non-federal entities and individuals, with one clear restriction: federal agencies were not eligible. In practice, this meant a wide range of applicants could participate, including organizations and other non-federal partners, as long as they met the eligibility details described in the full announcement. The intent was to encourage participation from outside the federal government to bring forward new ideas, partnerships, and approaches that can be adopted more broadly.

Funding was capped both at the program level and the individual award level. NRCS made up to $500,000 total available for California CIG awards in FY 2019. Individual projects could receive no more than $75,000 per award, which sets expectations for projects that are targeted, pilot-scale, or demonstration-oriented rather than large infrastructure builds. NRCS anticipated making about 6 awards under this announcement, which implies a competitive selection process with a limited number of funded projects.

Project periods were allowed to run from one to three years, giving applicants flexibility to propose short pilots, multi-season field demonstrations, or staged workplans that include design, implementation, monitoring, and outreach. The opportunity was published on April 10, 2019, and the original application deadline was June 10, 2019, providing a roughly two-month window for applicants to prepare and submit proposals. The official funding opportunity number for reference was USDA NRCS CA CIG 19 GEN0010105.

• The Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service in the agriculture, environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Announcement for Program Funding for NRCS’ Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2019 – CALIFORNIA" 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 Apr 10, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 10, 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 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for USDA NRCS CA CIG 19 GEN0010105

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