About the Agricultural Chipping Voucher Program:

The District was awarded funding by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2021 Targeted Airshed Grant (TAG) Program to develop a Pilot Agricultural Chipping Program. The grant award will provide financial incentives to farmers to encourage chipping of agricultural materials as an alternative to open burning.

Note: If you would like to apply to receive voucher funding for multiple non-contiguous parcels of land, please submit separate applications for each non-contiguous parcel. 

Voucher Funding Amounts:

• $600 per acre for chipping projects with soil incorporation; or
• $500 per acre for chipping projects without soil incorporation.

Applicants are eligible to receive funding for a maximum of 80 acres.

General Eligibility Criteria:

• Acreage must be located in Yolo County within the federal PM 2.5 nonattainment area or the northeastern portion of Solano County, including Dixon, Vacaville, and Rio Vista (see map below or email grants@ysaqmd.org to determine if your acreage address is located within the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District);
• Applicant must have a current District burn permit for the acreage referenced in the application;
• Applicant must be a commercial agricultural operation;
  Applicant must not have chipped, nor can begin chipping, any of the acres of agricultural material referenced in their application until they have received an executed voucher;
• Applicant must not have made a payment toward the chipping service to be completed prior to executed voucher being received;
  Applications are limited to orchard pull outs (Almond, walnut, or a crop type with comparable emission reductions);
• Land conversions intended for non-agricultural purposes are not eligible for funding;
• Applicant must certify continued agricultural use of the property, for at minimum 3 years; and 
• Final disposition of agricultural material must be used for either soil incorporation, on-site land application, or off-site beneficial re-use (mulch, composting, land application, etc.) and cannot be burned or used in any combustion processes such as biomass power generation, air curtain burners, etc.

District Boundaries:

The map below shows the boundaries of the District. In order to be eligible to participate in this program, acreage must be located within the District.

If your acreage is located in Yolo County, it must also be located within the Sacramento Federal Nonattainment Area for fine particulate matter. You can access a map of this area here. 

Funding Disclosure Applicants are required to disclose any funding they have applied for or received from any other source for this project. Other sources may include, but are not limited to, the USDA EQIP, CARB, US. EPA, and private sources. Additionally, if you intend to apply for additional funding, this information must be disclosed. Receiving funding from other sources for this project does not necessarily preclude you from applying for or receiving funding through YSAQMD. Has the applicant applied to other funding sources?

Terms and Conditions

1. I have legal authority to apply for grant funds for the project or activity described in this application.

2. I understand that submission of this application does not guarantee incentive funding for the project.

3. I understand that the final funding amount reimbursed may be less than the maximum incentive amount if the final invoice amount for the project is less than the maximum incentive amount, or if the final project is different from the proposed project. For example, the project proposed and funded was 100% soil incorporation but the final project was 50% with soil incorporation and 50% without soil incorporation.

4. I have not chipped, nor will I begin chipping, any of the agricultural material at the above-described location referenced in this application until I have an executed voucher.

5. I understand that the chipped material must be used for either soil incorporation, on-site land application, or off-site beneficial re-use (e.g. mulch, composting, land application) and cannot be used in any combustion practices including, but not limited to biomass power generation, pyrolysis or air curtain burners.

6. I understand that no portion of the agricultural material can be burned or used in any of the aforementioned combustion processes, including but not limited to leaves, branches, trunks, roots, stumps, or untreated sticks.

7. I certify that I will continue to use the acres referenced in this application for agricultural use.

8. I understand that the selection of a third-party contractor to perform any or all of the project is completely my choice and the District does not endorse, or is not in partnership with any such contractors, and shall not be responsible for any disputes arising from the work performed between the applicant and the contractor. The District will not be held liable for any disputes, circumstances or events that occur between the applicant and contractor. Contractors are independent contractors; they are not officers, representatives, agents, servants, employees, partners, associates, or joint ventures of the District.

9. The proposed project is not required to be implemented by any local, state, and/or federal rule, regulations, or other legally binding requirement.

10. I understand the grant will pay for a portion of the total costs and I must retain copies of receipts and cancelled checks to prove that I paid my share of the costs.

11. I understand there are conditions placed on receiving a grant and agree to refund the grant (or a pro-rated portion) if it is found that at any time, I do not meet those conditions.

12. Projects funded by District will not be used as marketable emission reduction credits, to offset any emission reduction obligation, or for credit under any federal or state emission averaging, banking and trading program. In addition, projects funded through this program may not be used to generate a compliance extension or extra credit for determining regulatory compliance.

13. I understand that disclosure is required of the value of any current financial incentive that directly reduces the project price, including tax credits or deductions, grants, or other public financial assistance.

14. I agree not to make a payment towards chipping prior to receiving a valid voucher from the District.

15. I understand the District has the right to conduct inspections, including, but not limited to pre-inspection and post-inspection.

16. I understand that an IRS Form 1099 will be issued to me for the incentive funds received under any District Program. I understand that it is my responsibility to determine the tax liability associated with participating in District Programs.

I certify to the best of knowledge that the information contained in this application is true and correct.

I agree to the above statements.