I heard yesterday of a program from the county soil conservation department that will pay for anywhere between half and all of the costs of grading land if it's causing water runoff into a barn. I was at a local eatery and was chatting with a young farmer there who mentioned it to me. When I appeared incredulous at the very prospect of getting government help to pay for something I actually wanted to do anyhow he hollered over at a friend of his to join us. This other individual said he'd know a couple people to use the program. His only concern was whether I had enough land to qualify. Apparently it takes over ten acres so I just made the cut. Has anyone else heard of this or used it or anything similar? It just sounds too good to be true.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), February 24, 2002

Answers

Gary, it's not the government that helps pay your way, it's your neighbors. The government has to take money away from someone to give it to another.

If the work is beyond your means, maybe you can find a neighbor or two with a box scraper and some shovels to give you a hand.

-- Tis I (really_tis_i@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

I think the money is there to be spent by whichever neighbor qualifies.

Isn't that how these programs work?

-- Rick and Ann in SW West Virginia (Rick_122@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Tis-

In a more Libertarian world, I'd certainly agree with you and proceed accordingly. In the world were in, however, I guess I'm of the belief that the money was to begin with. This program may actually give me an opportunity to utilize some of it in a way that will benefit me directly. If I didn't pay an annual five figure tax bill I might feel differently. As it stands, if I found a program that would have a new barn built for me I might break even with my April 15 check this year. It'd have to be one heck of a barn, though. ;o)

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), February 24, 2002.

Gary, I hope you didn't take my comments as a personal insult, though in re-reading my post, it is easy to see that it could have been.

I'm still a tad bit riled up about reading the information in the link provided some time back about farm subsidies. My little county alone takes in a cool 8 million a year.

It was unfair of me to judge your situation. I'm just completed my tax return so I'm a bit touchy. If I lived closer, I'd offer the loan of my back and well honed shovel.

I can be thankful for one thing however, that I didn't have to pay nearly as much in taxes as you did. ::grin::

-- Tis I (really_tis_i@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

Gary - There is probably a program that will assist you in surface water control. If they pay for grading that is probably to prep the slope for a grassed waterway. Your best bet is to call your county Conservation District and ask. You can find the phone number in the book or contact the Natural Resources Conservation District in your county, the two offices are often housed together. The Groundwater Stewardship Program is a STATE program so you would need to visit your state Department of Agriculture web site. I'm sure the program would be listed and a phone number as well.

The funds for these cost share programs for groundwater quality come from a surtax on the chemicals that farmers buy, not from your taxes. The purpose of the program is to protect our groundwater and surface water from chemical and manure contamination. Many of the cost shares are available to persons owning property, you just have to ask and meet some guidelines. It's a good program, been in effect for several years now.

There are government programs that will help with riparian buffers next to surface water also, these are federal programs and you can find out about those while your at the Conservation District as well. Yes, these are paid for by your taxes, is that a bad way to spend some tax money, beats some of the other things our money goes for.

Please call the conservation district and get the correct information. This is where it is important to be involved with a farm organization, many of these programs are published in magazines, etc. Can you tell I used to work for the Conservation District in my county (actually ran the Groundwater Stewardship Program for a while), that was several years ago however, so things have probably changed some but I know the program is still operating in Michigan.

-- Betsy (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), February 25, 2002.

Having worked as an investigative newspaper reporter for 22 years (in March) and loving my little homestead, and seeing more and more goofy and unbelievable governmental regulations that have no basis....and possibly being way way way Libetarian in my bent....I am wary of getting "government" money to help with anything....

the less they know about my homestead the better!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), February 25, 2002.

I spoke with the County Soil and Water Conservation office today and a gentleman from there is going to meet me at my property Thursday at 8 AM to walk it with me, offer suggestions and see if there's a program that might help me do this. Incredibly nice people with whom to deal thus far. I'll post more later to update on what I find out.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), February 25, 2002.

If the government gets involved, they'll turn a 500 dollar job into a 5000 dollar job and your share will be 2500 dollars.

-- Andy Cornell (acorn@southernlink.net), March 31, 2002.

I'm wiith Suzy & Andy on this. Hope you didn't open an expensive can of worms for yourself. It happens a lot. They offer to help, but you have to pay 1/2, and they do things the very expensive way. It's possible your barn will get shut down, if you have water running past the livestock yard - non-point source pollution.

At least, that is how it is here in Minnesota.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 31, 2002.