Thank you for your interest in the CARAT Project and the Climate-Smart Team Planning Process. Technical Service Providers will play a key role in both helping farms develop climate-smart plans and implementing strategies identified in those plans.
View a webinar recording and slide deck for a full overview of TSPs’ involvement in the CARAT project. Please note, a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan is not a requirement of the qualification process. TSPs will be asked to help farms develop a climate-smart plan as part of the qualification process. For information on what is included in a Climate-Smart Plan, the process for participating, or how TSPs will be involved in the project, access the following resources:
Once a climate-smart plan has been approved for implementation, your next steps as a technical service provider will be:
- You must work with the producer to ensure all required FSA paperwork is submitted to their local FSA office. This includes establishing Farm Records with FSA (have farm, tract, and field numbers in place), completing Form AD-2047, Form CCC-902E or Form CCC-902I as applicable, and Form AD-1026, and requesting a copy of your Subsidiary Print. In addition, to facilitate their enrollment and participation in the CARAT program, they should fill out the CARAT FSA Data Share Authorization Form and send it to their local FSA office for release of FSA records relevant to this program to Penn State.
- If required for the practice, complete and submit the USDA CPA-52 Environmental Evaluation Worksheet to NRCS. Whether this form will be needed is dependent on what strategies the producer is seeking to implement. You and Penn State can help determine whether this form is needed.
- Please have the producer complete a W9 form and send it, along with the forms listed above, back to Melissa at manderson@centerfordairyexcellence.org or by mail to Melissa Anderson at the Center for Dairy Excellence, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, Pa. 17110.
- You and the farm have six months to identify the strategies the producer will implement using the grant funding that has been awarded to them.
- Once you have identified those strategies, either the producer or you should complete the CARAT Strategy Form to provide a description of that strategy, the estimated cost of the strategy, and the approved NRCS practice code, so we can create a contractual agreement for the project. (A list of approved practice codes is found in the “CARAT Strategy Form.”)
- The Center will provide the producer with the contractual agreement that will outline what project or strategy can be funded through the grant and what expectations are associated with that funding. Once the producer signs that contract, you can move forward with the project.
- Funds will be paid as reimbursement and expenses can be submitted on a rolling basis. It may take 3 – 4 weeks to process submitted expenses due to the structure of this program. To submit funds, you will need to use the enclosed reimbursement form and include a copy of the invoices included in each submission.
In summary, the documents that should be returned to the Center for Dairy Excellence include the completed FSA Data Release Authorization Form and a completed W9. If a CPA-52 Environmental Evaluation Worksheet is required, that should be completed by the TSP as soon as possible and submitted so we can send it to NRCS for review. Finally, within six months, you should complete and return the enclosed CARAT Strategy Form.
If you have additional questions regarding your role as a TSP, please email Melissa Anderson, Matt Royer or Peter Hughes.