This agreement provides funding under the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA) in the amount of $2,000,000 to winrock international to support efforts with improving the water quality of…

Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 awarded Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development $2 million on January 1, 2026, under the Geographic Programs—Gulf of America Program (CFDA 66.475) to demonstrate a regenerative grazing model and provide farmers with financial and technical assistance to reduce erosion and sedimentation in Indiana's Blue-Sinking Watershed flowing into the Gulf of America.

Winrock will invest in production practices with the largest net positive impact on water quality and develop the GrazeScape tool, an advanced decision-support platform enabling farmers to analyze water quality impacts of perennial practices. Winrock will build a collaborative partnership for regenerative grazing across four county soil and water conservation districts. The recipient expects to directly support at least 40 farmers with technical assistance and 30 farmers with financial assistance, with anticipated deliverables including changes in farmer willingness to adopt practices, decision support for choosing best management practices, and reduced sediment loads.

Purdue University serves as sub-recipient (sub-award 05D44125-10052-26-A-002, awarded March 31, 2026) to implement and refine GrazeScape. Sub-recipient activities include ensuring uptake of targeted practices, rolling out the GrazeScape tool, coordinating with four county soil and water conservation districts to administer the farmer financial assistance program, holding farmer events, providing technical assistance and training to farmers, and coordinating with extension educators in livestock systems to provide ongoing feedback.

Period of performance runs January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028. Place of performance is Indiana.

This agreement provides funding under the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA) in the amount of $2,000,000 to winrock international to support efforts with improving the water quality of the gulf of america. The purpose of this award is to demonstrate a regenerative grazing model and to provide farmers with financial and technical assistance that enable them to implement practices that reduce erosion and sedimentation in indiana's blue-sinking watershed that flows into the gulf of america. Activities:the activities to be performed include investing in production practices that have the largest net positive impact on water quality and demonstrating that a transition model can be scaled in different geographies, thereby increasing the model's impact on farmland, water quality, and associated economic and environmental indicators. Better tools will be developed for farmers to analyze the water quality impacts of their perennial practices (graze scape) while also building a new collaborative partnership for regenerative grazing across four county soil and water conservation districts. Subrecipient:subrecipient activities include ensuring the uptake of targeted practices, rolling out the graze scape tool, and coordinating with four county soil and water conservation districts to administer a farmer financial assistance program. Other activities include holding farmer events, providing technical assistance and training to farmers, and providing extension educators with expertise in livestock systems to provide ongoing feedback.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables and expected outcomes include changes in the willingness of farmers to adopt practices as a result of project communication, decision support for farmers and other land managers to choose best management practices, and a reduction in sediment loads. This project is expected to directly support at least 40 farmers with technical assistance, and 30 farmers with financial assistance, and to impact 2,150 acres with new grazing and pasture practices. This support is anticipated to result in a 47% reduction in sediment runoff per project acre through a net reduction of 1,400 total tons of sediment reduction to indiana's blue-sinking watershed. As the intended beneficiaries, the farmers and communities in southern indiana will benefit from improved water quality, restored habitat, and comprehensive community planning.