By Noah Wicks
Agri Pulse
Conservation groups hoping to preserve waterfowl habitat on more than 800,000 acres of land have proposed a $375 million Environmental Quality Incentives Program initiative that would pay farmers to conserve small wetlands and flood rice fields after harvest.
Under the Migratory Bird Resurgence Initiative, the Natural Resources Conservation Service would reserve $250 million in funding for EQIP projects that conserve wetlands smaller than two acres in five prairie pothole states and $125 million for post-harvest flooding in California and four Southern states.