The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking an agricultural cooperator(s) for it’s Cooperative Agriculture Program at Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge in Benton, KY. The cooperator(s) will have use of up to approximately 134 and/or 442 acres in Marshall, McCracken, and Graves Counties for up to a period of 5 years.
The selected party will operate under a Cooperative Agriculture Agreement as a “cooperator” with the Service. Under this Agreement, the Service is proposing that the cooperator will be responsible for producing grain crops for the benefit of wildlife on approximately 25% of the acres in exchange for the exclusive rights to produce and harvest crops consisting of corn, soybeans, wheat, milo, or millet on the remaining 75% of the acres.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policy prohibits the use neonicotinoids and restrictions to pesticide type and traditional application procedures may apply. All pesticides must be pre-approved under a pesticide use permit for the refuge, annually.
Applications will only be accepted between March 2 – March 23, 2026. Application envelopes must be received in the refuge office by March 23, 2026 at 10:00 am.
The cooperator will be selected through an open and competitive process where applications will be scored and ranked by the following criteria (additional evaluation procedures may be applied):
- Experience and knowledge in cultivation of grain crops
- Personal experience on NWR lands or comparable conservation land.
- Ability to successfully cultivate crops under seed treatment and chemical restrictions (e.g non-neonicotinoid pesticides, chemical type and application procedures).
- Ownership or access to the proper equipment, materials, labor, or other resources to participate in the cooperative agriculture agreement.
- Proximity of personnel to monitor crops and respond to crop health or pest issues
- Scale and location of operations that ensures planting and harvest within first available window of opportunity
- Other relative criteria
For more information, site visits, and details about this opportunity, contact Acting Refuge Manager Kimberly Sykes by phone at 270-527-5770 ext. 205 or email Kimberly_Sykes@fws.gov.
