Durham County
HomeAgricultural Cost Share Program
Staff Contact:
Dustin Brewer
Phone: 919-560-0558
What is the Ag Cost Share Program?
The Agriculture Cost-Share Assistance Program (ACSP) is a voluntary program for farmers and agricultural landowners to help address natural resource concerns on the land and non-point source pollution from agricultural activities. The program provides technical and financial assistance for the installation of best management practices. ACSP is administered by the NC Division of Soil and Water Conservation and local Soil and Water Districts.
A major cause of water quality problems in North Carolina and much of the United States is nonpoint source pollution. Nonpoint source pollution comes from many different sources such as construction, cities and towns, impervious surfaces and agriculture. In agricultural areas, damage to our water resources come from soil erosion, excess nutrients, animal waste contamination and accidental spills of agricultural chemicals.
The ACSP uses more than 60 approved best management practices to address agricultural nonpoint source pollution that fall into the following 5 areas:
- Sediment/Nutrient losses - BMPs that reduce run-off from cropland and keep sediment and nutrients out of state waterways.
- Animal Waste Management - to biologically treat, stabilize and provide environmentally safe storage of organic waste material.
- Agrichemical Pollution Prevention - to provide an environmentally safe means for mixing and storing of agrichemicals.
- Stream Protection - decreases the amount of sediment and nutrients from entering waterways due to livestock with access to streams and ponds.
- Erosion/Nutrient Reduction - BMPs that minimize farm field erosion and help reduce nutrient application to the field.
- Identify best management practices (BMPs) suited to your operations.
- Develop and approve individual conservation plans.
- Design and oversee the installation of BMPs
- Provide technical assistance to ensure proper operation and maintenance
Who is Eligible?
If you are a landowner or renter of an existing agricultural operation that has been operating for more than three years, you may be eligible to participate in the North Carolina Agriculture Cost Share Program.
**Due to recent NC legislation, interested applicants will be asked to provide a copy of one of the following to prove eligibility:
- Farm owner or operator’s federal tax Schedule F (form 1040) or an equivalent form for the most recent tax year showing the owner or operator’s profit or loss from farming.
- Farm sales tax exemption certificate issued to the farm owner or operator by the US Department of Revenue.
- Forest management plan for forestland actively engaged in the commercial growing of trees as defined in G.S. 105-277.2(6). This applies only to BMPs contracted on land covered in the forestry management plan.
If the applicant cannot provide any of the items above but has a conservation plan that meets the statutory purposes of the program(s), the board may request an exemption from the Soil and Water Conservation Commission.
How does the program Work?
Potential candidates will submit an application to the Durham SWCD for review by the Board of Supervisors. The applications are ranked based on resource concerns identified in the county. If your application is approved by the Board, a BMP design to address your resource issues will be designed, average cost share reimbursement will be calculated and a final contract between the District, the state and you will be submitted for approval.
Upon final approval from the NC Division of Soil and Water, you may begin work on the installation of the BMP. A predetermined timeline for completion of the BMP will be followed closely.
After installation of the approved BMP is completed according to the predetermined specifications and verified by the staff, you will submit all receipts for the BMP to the Durham SWCD. A request for payment form will be filled with the state and you will be issued a payment reimbursing you for the predetermined average cost of installation of the BMP.
Average Cost Share
Participants can be reimbursed up to 75% of a predetermined average cost for each BMP installed. The applicant is responsible for the remaining 25% of the costs. A limited number of BMP components are reimbursed based on an actual cost, but most are based on average cost estimates collected from across the state. This ensures that the public funds that are used for ACSP are used economically to ensure water quality benefits while being equal to all participants across the state.
There are some cost share and acreage restrictions depending on the BMPs used, the type of operation involved, or policy set by the local soil and water conservation district or N.C. Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Cost share incentive payments are also available to encourage the use of certain agronomic management practices.
ACSP staff will be happy to explain all cost calculations for the BMP components at the time the contracts are originally signed.
For more information, please contact the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District at 919-560-0558 or visit www.soilandwater.nc.gov
- NC ACSP brochure [PDF]
The Durham Soil & Water Conservation District, in partnership with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), offers a wide verity of conservation programs designed to help farmers, landowners, and the environment. For a complete list of programs and details about NRCS, please check out the following documents:
- About NRCS [PDF]
- Eligibility & Your Land [PDF]
- Conservation Planning [PDF]
- Conservation Programs at a Glance, 2011 [PDF]
Establishes collective nitrogen and Phosphorus reduction goals for agricultural operations in the watershed. This rule will affect anyone who engages in agricultural operations in the Falls Lake Watershed, produces crops or horticulture products (excluding trees) primarily for financial profit, engages in research activities in support of commercial production or has:
- 5 or more horses
- 20 or more cattle
- 20 or more swine not in a feedlot
- 150 or more swine in a feedlot
- 120 or more sheep
- 130 or more goats
- 650 or more turkeys
- 3,500 or more chickens
- any combination that exceeds 20,000 pounds of live weight at anytime
All persons this rule effects must register with their Local Advisory Committee. To register or for more details, please visit the NC Division of Soil and Water Conservation's website at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/swc/falls-nsw-registration
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Durham County Farm Heritage Hall of Fame Award
Sponsored by the Durham County Farm Bureau and the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District
The Durham County Farm Heritage Hall of Fame Award recognizes those individuals of the past and/or present, who through agriculture have made or continue to make our county and state a better place to live and work. We desire to honor and give public recognition to those who have brought distinction to themselves, have made outstanding contributions to their professions, and whose community involvement has served as stimulus to others. Recipients should be have outstanding character in their community.
Annual awards will honor men or women who have been instrumental to the success and excellence of agriculture, either as a farmer or in an agriculturally related field. Durham County residents who have exemplary records for superior contributions and outstanding leadership in promoting agriculture and natural resource conservation in our community may be nominated by their peers or themselves. Farmers, growers, ranchers, owners/employees of agribusiness firms, agricultural education, government or other individuals who have contributed to the success of agriculture in Durham County are all eligible for nomination as either individuals and/or families. Persons selected for recognition will be honored and formally inducted into the Durham County Farm Heritage Hall of Fame during the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District's Annual Farmer Appreciation Dinner.
Recipients must have made their major contributions in Durham County &/or North Carolina and should have had long tenure in their field of endeavor, preferably over 25 years and shall have a solid Durham County connection. Applications must have details for the committee to know what the contributions have been. Nominations may be made by any individual or organization in NC by completing a nomination form and returning it to the Farm Heritage Hall of Fame Committee by the first Friday in July of each year.
Selection each year will be made by the Durham Co. Farm Heritage Hall of Fame Committee. The decision of the judges shall be final and is usually completed in mid-February each year and letters are sent to all applicants. Applicants not selected are retained for review the next year(s) and can be resubmitted with greater detail if desired.