News Release

Washington, DC – A grant program supported by Idaho Senator Mike Crapo in the 2008 Farm Bill has awarded nearly $7 million to four Idaho projects. The grants were awarded under the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), which Crapo worked to have included in the 2008 Farm Bill when he was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He also worked to have the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer region listed as an AWEP priority area in the Farm Bill conference report. The recipients were announced by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

“Water is a critical issue to those in the agriculture community in Idaho,” said Crapo. “That is why I worked hard to have this program included in the Farm Bill. The recipients of these grants will be able to use the funding for water conservation, quality improvement, irrigation enhancement and a number of other water issues faced by agriculture producers in Idaho.”

The Idaho recipients of the AWEP grants were the Idaho Water Rescue Board, the Portneuf Marsh Valley Canal Company and the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission, which received funding for two projects. The Agricultural Water Enhancement Program is funded from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Those who receive grants under AWEP must meet EQIP standards. For more information on AWEP, you can visit the NRCS’s website at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/.