The Upper Republican Natural Resources District is now accepting applications for the 2026 soil moisture probe cost-share program.

The program is open to irrigators in the URNRD and will reimburse half the cost of the equipment and services of the probes, up to $1,300 per probe, with a maximum of three probes per person or entity. One probe per field will be eligible for the cost share. The URNRD does not dictate what types of probes are used.

 Funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis; once the funds have been allocated, the application period will end. The application can be found at urnrd.org or at the URNRD office located at 511 East 5^th Street in Imperial.

The program is aided in part by a grant from the State of Nebraska Water Resource Cash Fund. Since the URNRD began offering the cost share program in 2011, with the help of various grants over the years, it has encouraged the use of 1,300 probes on approximately 170,000 acres with an estimated water savings of 28,000 acre feet.