USDA Announces $516,000 for Conservation Innovation Grant in Hawaii

HONOLULU, August 24, 2011-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the winning proposals for the 2011 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). Through CIG, the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is investing nearly $22.5 million nationwide in innovative conservation technologies and approaches that address a broad array of existing and emerging natural resource issues. Of that, Hawaii gains $516,000 for outreach to agricultural producers via the Kunia Loa Ridge Farmlands, Inc.

"We are very excited that the small farm plots on Oahu will get personalized attention through collaborative conservation planning and practice implementation," said Angel Figueroa, NRCS Director of the Pacific Islands Area.

Besides advancing innovations that address erosion prevention and other natural resource issues, the 2011 national CIG award winner will demonstrate how individual conservation plans can be developed and implemented under one Landscape Scale Conservation Plan. This system mimics the traditional Hawaiian system and will assist socially disadvantaged farmers in adopting sustainable conservation methods. In addition, two handbooks on conservation technologies and practices will be developed and technical training in partnership with the University of Hawaii will be scheduled. Kunia Loa Ridge Farmlands, Inc., the grant winner, pays 50 percent of project costs.

The NRCS administers CIG as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Grants are awarded to state and local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes, non-governmental organizations and individuals. NRCS uses CIG to invest in innovative, on-the-ground conservation technologies and approaches with the goal of wide-scale adoption to address water quality and quantity, air quality, energy conservation, and environmental markets, among other natural resource issues.

For more information on the Kunia Loa Farmland project, contact Tom Esgate, Project Director at twesgate@sbcglobal.net. For more information about other CIG recipients or NRCS conservation programs online, visit www.pia.nrcs.usda.gov or the nearest USDA Service Center in your area.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

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