Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI)

The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative (MRBI) is accelerating voluntary, on-farm conservation investments and focused water quality monitoring and assessment resources in the Mississippi River watershed.

Launched in 2009, the 12-state MRBI uses several Farm Bill programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to help landowners conserve America’s natural resources through voluntary conservation. The overall goals of MRBI are to improve water quality, restore wetlands and enhance wildlife habitat while ensuring economic viability of agricultural lands.

Known as “America’s River,” the Mississippi River is North America’s largest river, flowing over 2,300 miles through America’s heartland to the Gulf of America. The Mississippi River watershed not only provides drinking water, food, industry and recreation for millions of people, it also hosts the migratory flyway and home for more than 325 bird species.

Elevated nutrient levels in the Mississippi River flow downstream and are contributing to the Gulf of America hypoxic (low-oxygen) zone. To address these water quality concerns and agricultural sources of nutrients and sediment, NRCS is working with farmers and conservation partners to implement conservation practices proven to improve the overall health of the Mississippi River.

Farmers, ranchers and landowners with agricultural land inside a designated MRBI focus watershed — but MRBI itself has no eligibility criteria of its own, because it is not a separate pot of money. "Launched in 2009, the 12-state MRBI uses several Farm Bill programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to help landowners conserve America's natural resources through voluntary conservation." So your eligibility test is EQIP's (or CSP's, whichever program funds your contract), and MRBI adds one thing on top: location.

The location test is the whole point. "MRBI uses a small watershed approach to support the states' reduction strategies" — assistance is targeted to specific small watersheds, not offered basin-wide. NRCS publishes the lists each year: "MRBI Implementation Watersheds" and "MRBI Planning Watersheds," plus an interactive map of MRBI watersheds. Check whether your tract falls inside one before anything else; being in the Mississippi River Basin is not the same as being in an MRBI focus watershed.

The 12 states. The FY2025 Implementation Watersheds list covers Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

What you must be. NRCS describes participants as "farmers," "ranchers" and "landowners" with "agricultural land" / "working lands" — individual producers, not partner organizations. (Partners have a separate route through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which is a different record.) The practices funded are the water-quality set: "cover crops, no-till, residue management, grassed waterways and nutrient management."

What MRBI does not publish. No acreage minimum, income floor or ceiling, years-of-experience requirement, tenure requirement, or audience restriction (beginning, veteran, socially disadvantaged) appears anywhere on the MRBI page. Those come from the funding program. From the general NRCS conditions that apply to its programs: "To maintain eligibility for most USDA programs, producers must comply with wetland conservation provisions" — and EQIP applicants normally need FSA farm records and AD-1026 HEL/wetland certification, which your local office will confirm.

What being in a focus watershed actually buys you is better odds, not a different program: the initiative "has helped increase the adoption of critical water quality conservation practices ... by more than 30 percent (based on practice obligations) compared to focus area watersheds with general EQIP alone."

Next step. "Contact your local service center to start your application" — there is no MRBI application form. Ask your local NRCS office two questions: is my tract in an MRBI implementation watershed, and what is the current EQIP ranking and payment schedule for those practices in my state. National contact: John Bullough, Conservation Initiatives Coordinator for Water Quality.

MRBI publishes no award amounts, payment rates, cost-share percentages, or contract lengths of its own. It is a geographic targeting initiative, not a separate pot of money: "the 12-state MRBI uses several Farm Bill programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to help landowners conserve America's natural resources through voluntary conservation."

So your actual terms — practice payment rate, cost-share share, contract length, advance-payment eligibility — come from whichever program funds your contract, usually EQIP. Ask your local NRCS office for the EQIP payment schedule for your state.

What being in an MRBI focus watershed actually buys you is better odds and more attention rather than a different rate. NRCS reports the initiative "has helped increase the adoption of critical water quality conservation practices, such as cover crops, no-till, residue management, grassed waterways and nutrient management by more than 30 percent (based on practice obligations) compared to focus area watersheds with general EQIP alone."

The binding constraint is geography, not money: eligibility is limited to the MRBI implementation and planning watersheds that NRCS designates each fiscal year (published as a list plus an interactive map). Check that your ground is inside one before applying.

Route — your local USDA service center. There is no MRBI application form. NRCS says it plainly: "Contact your local service center to start your application." MRBI is a targeting initiative rather than a separate pot of money, so what you actually apply for is EQIP (or whichever Farm Bill program funds your contract) at your local NRCS office; the MRBI designation is what makes your tract a priority for that money. Find the office with USDA's locator — the page's own fallback note is "If this locator does not work in your browser, please visit offices.usda.gov" (https://offices.usda.gov). The local FSA office is usually in the same building.

Check the watershed before anything else. Being inside the Mississippi River Basin is not enough — the tract has to sit in a designated MRBI watershed. NRCS publishes the lists each fiscal year: "MRBI Implementation Watersheds for FY2025" (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/MRBI-Implementation-Watersheds-for%20FY2025.pdf) and "MRBI Planning Watersheds for FY2025" (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/MRBI-Planning-Watersheds-for-FY2025.pdf), plus an interactive map linked from the program page. Ask your district conservationist to confirm your tract.

Timing — continuous intake, funded in ranking periods. "Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they're considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time." So there is no national deadline to miss, but there is a state cutoff that decides which funding round you land in. No MRBI-specific date is published.

The five steps NRCS publishes.

1. Make a plan — "we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office." Technical assistance (resource assessment, practice design, monitoring) is free, and the planner helps you decide whether financial assistance is right for you.

2. Start an application — the office works with you to fill out AD-1026, the certification that "ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed" and that "identified wetland areas are protected." Then, "Once complete, we'll work with you on the application, or CPA-1200" — that is the program application itself.

3. Check eligibility — bring "An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)", "A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property", and "A farm number." No farm number? "you can get one from USDA's Farm Service Agency."

4. Ranking — NRCS ranks applications "according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants."

5. Implement — if selected you choose whether to sign the contract, you get standards and specifications and a set time to do the work, and "Once the work is implemented and inspected, you'll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications."

Who to ask. Your local NRCS district conservationist, for two things specifically: the ranking-period deadline in your state, and the EQIP payment schedule for the practices you want. The national program contact is John Bullough, Conservation Initiatives Coordinator for Water Quality — john.bullough@usda.gov.

• NRCS Press Release