A proposal to expand the eligibility for producer-led watershed protection grants has been signed into law. Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 65 Monday, allowing producer-led groups to be in a single watershed or in adjacent watersheds. The new law also allows these farmer-led groups to be eligible for lake and river protection grants administered by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
The producer-led program allows groups of farmers to try different conservation efforts and evaluate what works best for keeping nutrients on the soil and out of lakes and rivers.
The current program has a million dollars from the state budget awarded to 43 producer-led groups, which each have at least five farmers and a collaborator from the county land conservation office, UW Extension, or the Department of Natural Resources.
