The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food received a $1 million grant to help farmers and ranchers buy equipment designed to improve Utah’s soil health. The Utah Soil Health Equipment Grant is designed to help overcome some of the barriers that have been identified in adopting soil health across the state.
Organizations that want to access this grant money can apply for up to $ 50,000. To do so, they will want to partner with one of Utah’s 38 conservation districts, which will help them find out the best way to distribute the soil health equipment depending on their local situation.
“A lot of farmers and ranchers are interested in doing soil health practices, but a lot of times they don't have the equipment required to implement some of those practices," said Tony Richard, the soil health program manager for the UDAF.
He said that cost is the biggest barrier to farmers who want to implement soil health practices and this one-time fund will hopefully help them jump that hurdle.
A lot of the soil practices that farmers in Utah are trying to adopt are coming from the Midwest.
“Utah is trying to play catch up. So, we have very low adoption rates of soil health practices, so we've been trying to make sure, okay, one we have the equipment, but two, we have the localized knowledge," Richard said.
The UDAF has been trying to increase education on soil health and hopes that by combining education and access to equipment, there will be an increase in soil health practices.
This is the second time this fund has been available. The long-term goal is to see every agricultural acre in the state implement a management practice that is focused on soil health.
“Whether it is working with livestock side of it, or the crop side of it, our main goal is that we want to improve Utah soils," Richard said.
The grant application is open now till August 18. For information on this grant go to ag.utah.gov
