Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2026

Federal Awarding Agency Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Funding Opportunity Title: Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2026   Funding Opportunity Number: USDA-NRCS-NHQ-RCPP-AFA-26-NOFO0001451   Assistance Listing: 10.932, Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)   Due Date : NRCS must receive proposals by 4:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 24, 2026.   Note: The RCPP AFA and Classic FY 2026 notices of funding opportunity (NOFO) will run concurrently. For information on Classic proposals please see USDA-NRCS-NHQ- RCPP-Classic-26-NOFO0001450. The RCPP promotes the coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through the RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that provide solutions to conservation challenges thereby measurably improving the resource concerns they seek to address. RCPP promotes collaboration with partners, stakeholders, and various communities, which is paramount to achieving equity in NRCS programs and services. Partners use this notice to propose projects that improve natural resources in one or more states or focus on priority concerns in NRCS-designated Critical Conservation Areas  (CCAs). NRCS works with these partners to plan and carry out projects on farms, ranches and private forest land. Through the program, NRCS can provide funding to support both partners and producers. Proposals are selected through a competitive process based on their impact, the partner’s contributions, and how well the partnership is managed. Up to $310 million is available for RCPP projects through this announcement and the FY 2026 Classic announcement using the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) funding Working Families Tax Cut Act, Public Law 119-21 . Proposals are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and U.S. territories in the Pacific Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). Up to $30 million of the total available funding is being made available specifically for NRCS to enter into programmatic partnership agreements with Indian tribes. This set aside will be shared by this announcement and the FY 2026 Classic announcement.  RCPP AFAs are intended to reimburse projects led by partners that clearly demonstrate their capacity, resources, and ability to provide technical and financial assistance to benefit conservation implementation. The expectation is that AFA Partners will be ready to implement the project quickly. The 2018 Farm Bill provides the following examples of project types that might be implemented through RCPP AFA: ·      projects that use innovative approaches to leverage the Federal investment in conservation. ·      projects that deploy a pay-for-performance conservation approach.   Note: Pay for performance is a partner negotiated method used to pay for quantifiable benefits of implemented conservation activities in lieu of reimbursement for practice installation and management activities at NRCS payment rates.   ·      projects that seek large-scale infrastructure investments that generate conservation benefits for agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forest owners. NRCS can make up to 15 AFA awards through this funding opportunity through Farm Bill funding. Submissions: Proposals must be submitted through the RCPP portal . See section E of this announcement for information on using the RCPP portal to submit proposals. Access to the RCPP portal requires a level 2 eAuthentication credential or a Login.gov cred

a. an agricultural or silvicultural producer association or other group of producers;b. a state or unit of local government;c. an Indian tribe;d. a farmer cooperative;e. a water district, irrigation district, acequia, rural water district or association, or other organization with specific water delivery authority to agricultural producers on agricultural land;f. a municipal water or wastewater treatment entity;g. an institution of higher education;h. an organization or entity with an established history of working cooperatively with producers on agricultural land (as determined by NRCS) to address:• local conservation priorities related to agricultural production, wildlife habitat development, or nonindustrial private forest land management; or• critical watershed-scale soil ero