The Delta Conservation District
Upcoming Events
DCD holds it's regular monthly meeting on the 2nd Monday of each month at the Delta USDA Service Center located at 690 Industrial Blvd, Delta, CO from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. The public is welcome.
Next Board Meeting
April 11, 2022
3:00 to 5:00 pm
690 Industrial Blvd., Delta, CO
Teleconference line
1-612-746-7368 Code: 694688
Apply NOW for NRCS programs
While USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service accepts program applications year-round, many states have upcoming ranking dates for the current funding cycle. Apply before the ranking date to be considered for EQIP, CSP and AMA funding in this cycle or your application will automatically be deferred to the next funding cycle. Find the ranking dates in your state at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/staterankingdates.
News Release
Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources Program (STAR)
Delta Conservation District (Delta CD) has been selected to participate in the Colorado Department of Agriculture STAR (Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources) Soil Health Program. In collaboration with the Mesa Conservation District, Delta CD will service both the Delta and Mesa Conservation District boundaries for this program. The program is designed to help agricultural producers understand and manage the health of their soils. The goal of the program is to have healthy soils which will help provide long-term profitability for the producers and long-term health of the lands they steward.
There are 5 commonly acknowledged principals of soil health: 1) Soil armor; 2) Minimizing soil disturbance: 3) Plant diversity; 4) Continual live plant/root; and 5) Livestock integration.
The STAR program is available in 2 versions: STAR and STAR Plus. STAR Plus provides financial support to participants who wish incorporate soil health. The STAR Plus program is overseen locally for the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) by the Delta CD. Participants in the STAR Plus program will interact directly with the Delta CD.
Participants in the STAR program interact with CDA on-line through the CDA soil health portal. STAR allows producers to receive guidance in filling out a STAR Field Form, and assistance collecting a soil sample for a soil test. Participants in STAR will not receive an incentive payment. Free soil health tests are available to the first 100 participants.
STAR Plus participants will need to meet the basic NRCS requirements for producers. There are also requirements for producers unique to the soil health grant agreement that exists between NRCS and CDA. While effort has been made to list all requirements, the list may not be complete. The participant shall: 1) be willing to participate in the STAR Plus program for 3 consecutive years; 2) have control (by ownership or lease) of the enrolled field(s) or rangeland for the 3 years; 3) enroll at least one acre: 4) be NRCS EQIP funding eligible; 5) be willing to register with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and meet its requirements; 6) not enroll a marijuana field in the program. Hemp is okay for enrollment; 7) be willing to share crop rotation and other management information for the last 5 years for the acreage enrolled; 8) be willing to share financial information about the costs and returns of doing the soil health practices on the enrolled acreage; 9) be willing to share soil health experiences from this program with other farmers or ranchers.
Participant Benefits include: 1) Technical advice for increasing and managing the health of your soils; 2) Soil health rating of your current practices and guidelines of what to do to increase your rating; 3) Financial assistance (STAR Plus); 4) A free soil test
If you are able and willing to meet the requirements listed above, please feel free to apply for the STAR Plus program. If you have questions about the requirements or the application form, please contact Delta Conservation District at 970-399-8194 or deltaconservationd@gmail.com for assistance.