FAQ
Conservation money, loans & REAP
How the biggest programs actually work, and what happened to REAP.
- How does EQIP actually work — is it a normal grant?
- No, and that trips people up. EQIP is continuous signup: you apply any day at your local Service Center, but applications are batched and ranked in periodic pools rather than judged on a single deadline. If funded, you sign a contract and NRCS pays fixed amounts per conservation practice you implement. It flows from a conservation plan you write with NRCS — that plan visit is step one, not paperwork after an award.
- When should I apply for EQIP or CSP?
- As early as you can, and definitely before your state's ranking cutoff. Signup is open year-round, but each state sets its own cutoff dates for the next fiscal year — many land around October. Your state's cutoff differs from your neighbor's, so check yours. Miss it and your application simply rolls to the next ranking period.
- Can I still get money if I just missed a grant cycle?
- Yes — FSA loans are available year-round with no application windows. Microloans go up to $50,000 with a simplified application built for small operations. It's not a grant, but it's the door that's always open, and for many small farms it's the more realistic path anyway.
- What happened to REAP grants?
- They're paused, not dead. USDA stopped accepting REAP grant applications and formally rescinded the October 2024 funding notice effective April 15, 2026, pending a rewrite of the program's rules. No reopening date has been announced. The guaranteed loans are still open. Ignore any listicle saying 'apply now' — and any saying REAP is gone. We track the status on the REAP page and can email you when grants reopen.
The programs with the most money work differently than the word “grant” suggests. Once you understand continuous signup and the loan-vs-grant line, the whole landscape gets simpler. For REAP specifically, see its status page.
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