NARC&DC and the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG)

The National Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils (NARC&DC) is pleased to commence work on a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.  The CIG will help the NARC&DC and its project partner EnSave, Inc. to promote energy conservation workshops to targeted farmers and ranchers.

Awarded annually on a competitive basis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, CIGs are designed to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the Nation's most pressing natural resource concerns.

Since the inception of the EnSave, Inc.- NARC&DC partnership, in 2005, producers have saved over $1,082,213 in electric, $1,090,926 in propane, $595,734 in diesel and $305,489 in natural gas for over 3 million dollars in total energy savings.  Gary Freeman, Chair of NARC&DC's National Energy Committee stated that "The NARC&DC's Energy Committee has organized energy conservation training workshops for the general agricultural community in over 14 states."  He also noted that "Our work on this grant will allow us to further our efforts to include socially disadvantaged and underrepresented producers.”

The current program will have a number of key components: training workshops, information targeted to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, energy audits to select participants, assistance in the implementation of audit recommendations, a survey to identify obstacles to energy conservation. It is hoped that this program will inform future efforts to address socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers on energy-related topics.

Four particular groups of farmers and ranchers have been selected to receive training: African-Americans in Alabama and Georgia, Hispanics in southern Texas, native Hawaiians, and Native Americans on the Navajo and Hopi Nation lands in Arizona. These are all groups that have traditionally lacked full access to the information and assistance available to farmers and ranchers elsewhere.

“The NARC&DC has an established track record in energy-related issues, and we are obviously very pleased to have been awarded this grant,” said James Sipperly, the association’s president.