What is NATIVE and how can it help me?

Audubon’s NATIVE Project, funded by the USDA, provides financial and technical assistance to qualified farmers to grow a new cash crop - native warm season grass seed.   By native warm season grasses we mean prairie grasses like big bluestem, switchgrass and gamagrass.  Locally grown seeds are needed for prairie restoration and revegetation projects in the Delta.  The US Army Corps of Engineers in particular needs to reseed levees and rights-of-way in the Grand Prairie and Bayou Meto regions.  They have contracted with UAPB to produce seed, but more producers are needed to meet the quota of thousands of pounds of seed, thus the economic opportunity for farmers for years to come.  

The farmer will:
  • Prepare a field (at least 5 acres) by disking, amending the soil, and rolling
  • Broadcast and roll starter seed
  • Maintain the field
  • Harvest and sell seed to a market identified by NATIVE
 
NATIVE will provide:
  • Starter seed
  • Technical assistance for grass seed production
  • Financial assistance in the form of rental payments
  • Equipment to sow and harvest seeds
  • Farm conservation planning services
  • Farm financial planning services
 
Benefits to the farmer:
  • Technical and financial assistance with start-up
  • Extra income from the sale of native grass seed that is in demand
  • Extra income from selling native grass hay
  • Extra income from grazing (after seeds are harvested; native grass has good nutritional value)
  • Extra income from enrolling marginal land in Farm Bill conservation programs
  • A farm conservation plan needed for enrollment in Farm Bill programs 
  • A farm financial plan for better record keeping
  • Soil and water protection
  • Wildlife habitat for deer, quail, songbirds, and others