The Great Plains Conservation Program (GPCP), initiated in 1957, provided cost share and technical assistance to apply conservation on entire farms in 10 Great Plains states from the Dakotas and Montana to Texas and New Mexico. Contracts were limited to $35,000. At the end of 1995, over 6,800 farms in 558 counties with 20 million acres (80,937.2 km²) were participating. It was replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a program created by the 1996 farm bill to provide primarily cost-sharing assistance, but also technical and educational assistance, aimed at promoting production and environmental quality, and optimizing environmental benefits...

 (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127).