2025 NMDA Healthy Soils Financial Assistance Programs

Jan. 3, 2025

Dear Healthy Soil Program stakeholder:

Happy New Year!  The start of a new calendar year brings a new application cycle for NMDA’s Healthy Soil Program grants.  The online application – where you’ll write about your project and upload various documents, including the all-important timeline and budget – will open January 15, 2025, and close March 19, 2025 at 12 p.m. (noon) Mountain Time. 

No matter your applicant type (refer to the chart below), get started today on our step-by-step application process and sign up for our webinar January 23, when we’ll walk through the online application and answer related questions.

Planning to apply for a grant from NMDA’s Healthy Soil Program?
If you’ll apply for a grant on behalf of a “local governmental entity with proven land management capacity to support healthy soil”Review the step-by-step application process unique to Eligible Entities.Sign up for the Eligible Entity webinar happening January 23.	If you’ll apply on behalf of a non-governmental party (yourself, your business, or your nonprofit) directly engaged in farming, ranching, or another form of land management:Review the step-by-step application process unique to Individual Applicants.Sign up for the Individual Applicant webinar happening January 23.
▲   ELIGIBLE ENTITIES   ▲	▲   INDIVIDUAL APPLICANTS   ▲

We encourage you to continue reading for the latest soil health events, funding opportunities, and news.  The inclusion of such items does not imply NMDA’s endorsement.

NMDA’s Healthy Soil Program

Learn more: https://nmdeptag.nmsu.edu/healthy-soil-program.html

Be in touch: [email protected]

EVENTS, IN-PERSON AND ONLINE

WHAT (click on a link below to learn more or register)	WHEN	WHERE	WHO (event organizer)
Soil Health Workshop with Liz Haney From Quivira Coalition: “Liz Haney is a soil and ecosystem scientist with experience in soil testing and analyses, carbon, and conservation practice modeling, and is the co-developer of the Haney soil health test…RSVP to [email protected] or at 970.230.7022.”	Jan. 7-8, 2025	Greeley, CO	West Greeley Conservation District
Why Agroforestry in a Warming World	Jan. 8	Online	Southwest Agroforestry Action Network + Arizona Community Tree Council, Inc.
Prescribed Fire for Forest Management Webinar Series	Wednesdays: Jan. 8, Feb. 5, March 5, April 2	Online	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
National No-Tillage Conference	Jan. 7-10	Louisville, KY	No-Till Farmer + partners
Fundamental Knowledge for Successful Calving Season	Jan. 8, 13, 15	Online	Nebraska Extension
Utah Farm & Food Conference	Jan. 9-11	Cedar City, UT	Red Acre Center for Food and Agriculture
The Wild Side of Farming: Managing Habitats for Farm-Friendly Wildlife	Jan. 13	Online	Food Animal Concerns Trust
Principles & Practice: Soil Health Masterclass	Jan. 13-14	Omaha, NE	Integrated Soils
2025 NM Farmer Innovation Program Micro-Grant Application Webinar	Jan. 14	Online	Farm to Table New Mexico
Rangeland Monitoring for Smaller Producers	Jan. 14	Online	Southwest Drought Learning Network + partners
Electric Weeding in Organic Perennial Crops	Jan. 14	Online	Oregon State University
Seeds of Success: Organic Farmer and Researcher Collaboration Panel	Jan. 14	Online	Organic Farming Research Foundation
Restoring the Western Water Cycle: Can we manage land and water to improve the water cycle in the West?	Jan. 15	Online	Western Landowners Alliance
An Overview of Technical Note 190-12: Conservation Activities in Organic Farming Systems Part 1: Soil Health, Climate and Nutrients	Jan. 16	Online	USDA NRCS Science and Technology
Biochar production to reduce wildfire risk & bolster rural economies: A New Mexico case study	Jan. 16	Online	Forest Stewards Guild
29th Annual Winter Conference	Jan. 21-23	Wichita, KS	No-Till on the Plains
Building Ecosystem Resilience & Adaptive Capacity: Aspen Ecology and Management in the Southwest	Jan. 22	Online	Forest Stewards Guild + Southwest Fire Science Consortium
EcoFarm Conference 2025	Jan. 22-25	Pacific Grove, CA	EcoFarm
Applying for a Healthy Soil Program grant as an ELIGIBLE ENTITY	Jan. 23	Online	New Mexico Department of Agriculture
Applying for a Healthy Soil Program grant as an INDIVIDUAL APPLICANT	Jan. 23	Online	New Mexico Department of Agriculture
Annie’s Project: Empowering Women in Agriculture (see attached flyer)	Mondays: Jan. 27; Feb. 3, 10, 17, 24; and March 3	Los Lunas	NMSU-Cooperative Extension Service
2025 Agroforestry Symposium: Working Lands for Restoration and Harvest	Jan. 30	Columbia, MO and Online	The Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri
High Plains No-Till Conference	Feb. 4-5	Burlington, CO	Colorado Conservation Tillage Association
2025 Society for Range Management annual meeting	Feb. 9-13	Spokane, WA	Society for Range Management
Virtual SoilCon: Building Resiliency with Soils	Feb. 11	Online	Washington State Conservation Commission
Principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) for Meat and Poultry Processors(Learn more here)	Feb. 11-12	Las Cruces	New Mexico State University Extension Food Technology + University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension
National Cover Crop Summit	March 18-20	Online	Cover Crop Strategies

Have a soil health-related event happening this month or next?

Please send details (registration website, etc.) to [email protected]

OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES

1. Food Animal Concerns Trust: Apply by Jan. 5, 2025 for one or both Fund-a-Farmer grant opportunities
2. USDA-Food and Nutrition Service: Apply by Jan. 10: FY 2025 Farm to School Implementation Grant
3. National Grazing Lands Coalition: Apply by Jan. 15 for the Land & Legacy Scholarship to attending any Noble Research Institute educational course in 2025
4. From Transform F2C: Apply by Jan. 30: Dairy Manure Management incentive funds
5. New Mexico Acequia Association: Apply by Feb. 15: Los Sembradores Farmer Training Project
6. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association + National Cattlemen’s Foundation: Apply by Feb. 17 for the 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award
7. Quivira Coalition: Apply for SOIL TO SUPPER: Strengthening Southwest Livestock Value Chains for Climate Resilience
8. National STAR (Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources): Share Your Insights on Cropland Conservation Practices in New Mexico (see attached flyer)
9. American Farmland Trust: Guide to Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Agricultural Land Easements component for Heirs’ Property Landowners

SOIL HEALTH NEWS, organized by the 5 soil health principles

Soil health principle 1:	Keep soil covered.	Cover Crop Strategies: A Question for All Cover Croppers — Can This Really Work?Brownfield Ag News: Start small and ask questions when beginning cover crops
Soil health principle 2:	Minimize soil disturbance on cropland and minimize external inputs.	Peace Region Living Lab: [Watch] Maximize Crop Yields Without Destroying Soil Health
Soil health principle 3:	Maximize biodiversity.	Nature: Perennial flower strips in agricultural landscapes strongly promote earthworm populations
Soil health principle 4:	Maintain a living root.	Science X Daily: Cover crops as living mulch boost soil health and nutrient cycling, study finds
Soil health principle 5:	Integrate animals into land management, including grazing animals, birds, beneficial insects or keystone species, such as earthworms.	WineNet (South Africa): Moo-ving away from chemicals – Winemakers show how ancient wisdom can improve what’s in the glass
Multiple principles addressed, plus other news		The Western Producer (Canada): Producers take many paths to regenerative agCover Crop Strategies: Reflecting On the Significance of Commitment to No-Till & Cover CropsFarm Progress: 5 questions to ask at the beginning of 2025Southern Living: 7 Exterior Trends to Boost Your Curb Appeal In 2025

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