Nebraska Buffer Strip Program

The Nebraska Buffer Strip Program, administered by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture from fees assessed on registered pesticides, enrolls cropland adjacent to perennial and seasonal streams, ponds, and wetlands in buffer strips designed to filter agrichemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. Two kinds of buffer strips are eligible: filter strips (narrow strips of grass, minimum width 20 feet, maximum 120 feet) and riparian forest buffer strips (trees and grass, minimum width 55 feet, maximum 180 feet). It can be used in conjunction with the USDA CRP, CREP, or other programs, or by itself, and offers rental rates for irrigated and non-irrigated cropland. Rental rates (per acre): irrigated cropland with CRP/CREP/other government-funded programs = $250/acre minus payments from other programs; irrigated cropland without = $225/acre minus other program payments; non-irrigated cropland with CRP/CREP/other = 20% of the average CRP soil rental rate; non-irrigated cropland without = 120% of the average CRP soil rental rate plus $5/acre, minus any other program payment. In no case may payments from all programs exceed $250 per acre.

Nebraska landowners with cropland adjacent to perennial and seasonal streams, ponds, and wetlands. Filter strips must be a minimum of 20 feet wide (maximum 120 feet); riparian forest buffer strips a minimum of 55 feet wide (maximum 180 feet).

Interested landowners contact their local Natural Resources District (NRD) or USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office to begin the application.