Piloting Rewards for Ecosystem Services (PRES):  This current round of the PRES program is focused on agroforestry projects. 

This program provides farmers with an estimate of the emissions reduction impact of conservation and agroforestry practices they are implementing. PRES then rewards participants with two kinds of payments, a participation payment and an ecosystem services performance payment based on the amount of emissions reduction impact of their practices. Using models such as COMET-planner, program staff will help applicants estimate the Carbon Dioxide Equivalents sequestered by the implementation of their proposed conservation practices. If applicants are selected for funding, baseline soil carbon measurements will be collected by program staff, and these measurements will be repeated after conservation practice implementation. These soil measurements are for verification and research purposes only at this time. 

PRES is not a carbon offset or carbon credit program. PRES rewards farmers for environmental stewardship and reports information about the total emissions mitigation impact of new practices back to each farm. PRES is trialing innovative approaches to how farmers are compensated for conservation. The program seeks to share information, learn and evolve over time. 

This program is administered by American Farmland Trust in partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). 

Eligible Participants 

For this program, we define “farmer” as an individual, group, or organization who are intentionally raising livestock. A project may involve one or more of the following: an individual farmer, a farm family, a group of farmers with a cooperative business, or a non-profit entity. 

This program recognizes the following as “livestock”: beef or dairy cattle, bison, hogs, poultry, bees, goats, sheep, waterfowl. 

Eligible participants must be implementing agroforestry practices for the first time on the land unit after their project has been selected for funding. 

The proposed project must take place in one or more of the following counties: 

Connecticut 

Fairfield County 

Hartford County 

Litchfield County 

Middlesex County 

New Haven County 

New London County 

Windham County 

Tolland County 

Massachusetts 

Hampshire County 

Hampden County 

Berkshire County 

Franklin County 

Worcester County 

New Hampshire 

Coos County 

Grafton County 

Sullivan County 

Cheshire County 

Vermont 

Bennington County 

Caledonia County 

Essex County 

Orange County 

Windham County 

Windsor County 

Eligible Practice List 

Projects this round must include the establishment of agroforestry through tree and/or shrub planting.

Priority practices: 

Agroforestry or silvopasture establishment

Silvopasture (CPS 381) 

Alley cropping (CPS 311) 

Hedgerow planting (CPS 422)  

Riparian forest buffer (CPS 391) 

Tree/shrub establishment (CPS 612) 

Windbreak/shelterbelt establishment (CPS 380) 

Additional land management changes can be included in your application. Eligible additional practices include: 

Conservation crop rotation (CPS 328) 

Cover crops (CPS 340) 

Mulching (CPS 484) 

Residue and tillage management - no-till (CPS 329) 

Residue and tillage management - reduced till (CPS 345) 

Stripcropping (CPS 585) 

Conservation cover (CPS 327) 

Contour buffer strips (CPS 332) 

Field border (CPS 386) 

Filter strip (CPS 393) 

Forage and biomass planting (CPS 512) 

Grassed waterways (CPS 412) 

Herbaceous wind barriers (CPS 603) 

Riparian herbaceous cover (CPS 390) 

Vegetative barriers (CPS 601) 

Nutrient management (CPS 590) 

Prescribed grazing (CPS 528) 

Range planting (CPS 550) 

Critical area planting (CPS 342)