USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Missouri invites qualifying farmers and landowners to apply to receive technical and financial assistance through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. Funding is available to those in Clay County for two regional partnership projects. Applications must be received by Nov. 29.

One program centers in restoring and improving Monarch butterfly ecosystems.

“This project aims to increase Monarch and pollinator habitat in northwest Missouri through land management practices, with emphasis on prescribed burning and short-term land rental payments, reads a USDA release. (The program) will target lands currently enrolled in and expiring from Conservation Reserve Program, enhancing Monarch habitat by maintaining and restoring diverse native plant communities.”

The other program deals with increasing farm resilience to drought and flood. While open to all Missouri counties, priority is being given to Benton, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Henry, Howard, Johnson, Lafayette, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Pettis and Saline counties.

“This project aims to improve Missouri’s agricultural sustainability. This will be done by implementing management practices that allow farming operations to become more resilient to the impacts of weather extremes such as drought and flooding. The goals of the proposed practices are to aid in improving soil health, increasing both forage diversity and water delivery capacity to livestock and reducing the loss of sediment, nutrients and pathogens from farm fields,” states the USDA release.

Applicants can sign-up by contacting their local USDA-NRCS Field Office.

For more information, landowners and farmers should contact their local USDA field office. The Liberty service center, located at 1 Victory Drive in Liberty, can be reached by phone at 781-5580 or by email via Jason Saunders at jason.saunders@usda.gov.