EQIP is a grant program that covers expenses like fencing, cover cropping, nutrient management plans, wildlife habitat, pollinator habitat, no-till, irrigation infrastructure, installing a high tunnel, and more. It's intended to help you address resource concerns on your land while keeping the land in production.

To get an EQIP grant, your application will be ranked according to a point system that the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in your state has established. The NRCS ranks all applications received by a certain date (called a "batching period") and then begins distributing funding to the highest-ranked applicants first, and moves down the list until they run out of funds.

Because it is a grant program, EQIP will not be as quick a process as loans. It can take between 3 and 9 months to hear back about whether you have received an EQIP grant. But it's good to apply as soon as you can so that you have more time to interface with the USDA and get your application ranked by their point system.

EQIP is a reimbursement grant - so you first have to get the work done, and then they will pay you back. Beginning and underserved farmers, however, are eligible for up to 50% of the funding upfront.