Grazing Regeneratively for Appalachian Sustainable Solutions

Notice: _On April 14, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the cancellation of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC). The USDA plans to reform the program into the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative. Contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) for more information on how to apply to the AMP initiative. _

Underserved farmers would receive financial and technical assistance to support the transition from typical livestock systems management to climate-smart practices. Practices implemented include land management plans, prescribed grazing, bale grazing, native grass and silvopasture establishment, incorporation of legumes and non-leguminous forbs, and use of traditional and novel soil amendments, such as biochar.

The project would provide producers with marketing assistance for grass-fed beef products as long as producers meet required criteria of certifications and product quality.

Individual producers apply directly, and WVU Extension publishes a full checklist. "To be eligible for the GRASS Project you must:"

• "Produce beef cattle or sheep in West Virginia or Virginia"

• "Be a US citizen"

• "Not represent a foreign entity"

• "Own or have control (through a lease) of the enrolled property through the end of the project"

• "Have established farm records with USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)"

• "Have completed AD-2047 (Customer Data Worksheet) and AD-1026 (Highly Erodible Land Conservation & Wetland Conservation compliance)"

• "Agree to allow farm-access (with prior notification) to trusted project staff and share relevant farm information and data with project partners"

• "Ensure that the GRASS project is not funding a project that has already received funding"

• "Be willing to keep and report accurate farm and sales records"

• "Meet practice-specific requirements based on NRCS Conservation Practice Standards"

So there are two hard gates: the commodity is beef cattle or sheep only, and the geography is West Virginia or Virginia only. Everything else is paperwork and consent.

One practice restriction shapes what you can actually enroll: fencing (382) and watering facility (614) are "To be used only in combination with other practices listed above" — you cannot enroll for fence or water alone. The other approved NRCS practices are alley cropping (311), silvopasture (381), pasture and hay planting (512), prescribed grazing (528), nutrient management (590) and tree/shrub establishment (612).

What is NOT published: no acreage minimum, no income limit, no herd-size threshold, no years-of-experience requirement, and no audience set-aside (beginning, veteran, or otherwise). Do not assume one.

How and when: "The GRASS Project is currently taking applications! The Summer 2026 application will be open through September 15, 2026." You complete a short interest form first and are then invited to the full application, which requires your FSA farm, tract and field numbers. Questions go to grass@wvu.edu or Kate Fotos, GRASS project program coordinator.

No payment rate, per-acre amount, cost-share percentage, or per-producer cap is published. WVU Extension states only that "The GRASS project provides farmers with educational and technical assistance, as well as financial incentives, to support the transition from conventional management to sustainable conservation practices on working lands" and that "Participating farmers may qualify to receive an annual cash incentive, training and marketing assistance." So the payment is an annual incentive, sized per approved practice after you enroll — ask grass@wvu.edu for the current rate before you budget.

What the incentive is tied to — approved USDA-NRCS practices: alley cropping (311), silvopasture (381), fencing (382), pasture and hay planting (512), prescribed grazing (528), nutrient management (590), tree/shrub establishment (612), watering facility (614). Note that fencing (382) and watering facility (614) are flagged as "To be used only in combination with other practices listed above" — you cannot enroll for fence or water alone.

What you commit to: you must "Own or have control (through a lease) of the enrolled property through the end of the project"; keep and report accurate farm and sales records; allow project staff farm access with prior notification and share farm data with project partners; have established farm records with FSA plus completed AD-2047 and AD-1026. No double-dipping — "Ensure that the GRASS project is not funding a project that has already received funding." Practices must meet NRCS Conservation Practice Standard requirements.

Also included at no cost: education and technical assistance, training, and marketing assistance.

Who and when: beef cattle or sheep producers in West Virginia or Virginia, US citizens, not representing a foreign entity. "The GRASS Project is currently taking applications! The Summer 2026 application will be open through September 15, 2026." You complete an interest form first and are then invited to the full application.

One online form, and the round is open now — but it closes 15 September 2026, so this is a hard deadline, not rolling intake.

The route. WVU Extension publishes a single "Ready to Apply" section: "The GRASS Project is currently taking applications! The Summer 2026 application will be open through September 15, 2026. Click the button below to access the application." The button is labelled "GRASS Application" and goes to a Qualtrics form: https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_51rtpvxDa37JdPM (verified live, and the form itself is titled "GRASS Complete Application").

Don't confuse it with the mailing list. The same page carries a separate "Email List Sign-Up" button (https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_2iBgKwS0RqWfzbE) which only subscribes you to updates — "The email list receives all project wide updates!" Signing up for that is not applying.

Get your USDA paperwork done before you start the form. Two of the eligibility requirements are pre-existing registrations, and they take time to obtain: you must "Have established farm records with USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)" and "Have completed AD-2047 (Customer Data Worksheet) and AD-1026 (Highly Erodible Land Conservation & Wetland Conservation compliance)". Both are handled at your local FSA office. You must also "Own or have control (through a lease) of the enrolled property through the end of the project", "Be a US citizen", "Not represent a foreign entity", and be raising beef cattle or sheep in West Virginia or Virginia.

Decide which practices you are enrolling. Your application needs to name practices from the approved USDA-NRCS list: alley cropping (311), silvopasture (381), fencing (382), pasture and hay planting (512), prescribed grazing (528), nutrient management (590), tree/shrub establishment (612), watering facility (614). One trap worth knowing before you apply: fencing (382) and watering facility (614) are marked "To be used only in combination with other practices listed above" — an application for fence or water alone will not work. Practices must also "Meet practice-specific requirements based on NRCS Conservation Practice Standards".

What you are agreeing to by applying. You must "Agree to allow farm-access (with prior notification) to trusted project staff and share relevant farm information and data with project partners", "Be willing to keep and report accurate farm and sales records", and "Ensure that the GRASS project is not funding a project that has already received funding" — so you cannot stack this on an already-funded project.

Who to ask. "For more information, please contact the project through grass@wvu.edu or reach out to Kate Fotos, GRASS project program coordinator." For accessibility or alternate formats, WVU Extension's Office of Communications is published at 304-293-4222.