Nebraska Bird Partnership

The Platte River Basin Recovery project will receive $2 million in federal funds to help convert from irrigated to dryland farming.

The Agricultural Water Enhancement Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service is a voluntary conservation initiative that will allow farmers with irrigated land to receive a payment per acre for every acre not irrigated for the next five years, said Kent Miller, general manager of Twin Platte Natural Resources District in North Platte.

Unlike the previous Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which also paid farmers not to irrigate, this program is not limited to certain areas along the Platte and Republican Rivers, but can be used anywhere within the Platte River Basin.

Read more about funding to convert to dryland farming from the North Platte Telegraph.