Revamped program pays farmers for conservation work

The Country Today

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009
http://www.thecountrytoday.com/story-news.asp?id=BKTVF8GE0H3

Revamped program pays farmers for conservation work

By Heidi Clausen
Regional Editor
The Country Today

The first nationwide sign-up for the revamped Conservation Stewardship Program is under way at Natural Resources Conservation Service offices.

Although program sign-up is continuous, deadlines are set so applications can be ranked. Enrollment for 2009 contracts ends Sept. 30. Continuous sign-up for the 2010 program will begin in October.

The new CSP, previously known as the Conservation Security Program, is a voluntary working-lands conservation program approved more than a year ago as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.

Changes to the program make it available to all agricultural producers, regardless of where they live or what they produce. Previous efforts targeted specific watersheds.

Farmers can receive money for maintaining and improving conservation practices such as erosion control, water quality enhancement and wildlife habitat on their property.

The former three-tier structure has been replaced by a single-tier, whole-farm approach. Contracts are for five years.

The program is slated to receive $12 billion over the next decade to annually enroll nearly 13 million acres.

The previous program enrolled 20 million acres total since 2004.

CSP payments are expected to average $18 per acre nationwide, with payments capped at $200,000 over the life of the contract - equivalent to $40,000 a year.

The Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project welcomes the new CSP.

"Agriculture clearly is a contributing factor to many environmental problems facing communities around the country," the LSP said in a news release. "CSP, properly implemented by USDA and embraced by farmers and ranchers, has the opportunity to be a systematic solution to resolving and addressing some of those pressing concerns."

The LSP said CSP could "level the playing field for conservation-minded producers, provide incentives for transitioning to more sustainable and proven conservation farming systems and begin to rectify the heavy tilt against stewardship that has long been present in federal farm policy."

Viroqua farmer and LSP member Matt Urch said it's a "sweeping" program that looks at the whole farm.

"It's a step in the right direction as far as federal farm policy," he said.

Urch's 30 beef cattle and a few pigs graze at his 80-acre farm. He also grows corn, hay and barley.

He said he expects interest in the first enrollment period to be high.

"I think, given the innovative nature of the program and the fact that it's going to support conservation on working farmland, it will be big," he said.

The newly designed program should put more dollars in farmers' pockets, which benefits rural economies, he said.

Urch said he's particularly excited about what the new CSP could mean for dairy farmers who already use practices such as grazing and crop rotation. Those farmers could be rewarded for their efforts and further build upon them, he said.

"It's exciting to see this program take off," said Bridget Holcomb of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy. "This is exactly what farmers and the environment need right now - support for conservation practices on our farms and incentives for farmers to do even more."

The new CSP is the federal government's new "green farm program," said Margaret Krome, Michael Fields policy program director and a member of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection board.

"It's really important that we use all the funds that are available," she said, adding that the year-round sign-up is good.

Harriet Behar of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service said the program reaches out to many people not traditionally involved in farm programs.

"There's a lot to this. It could be a very good program," Behar said.

She said 10 percent of the total acreage allotted to Wisconsin will be devoted to forestland. Individual states' allotments haven't been announced.

Behar said farmers who attend CSP informational workshops over the next few weeks can work with NRCS staff to complete the self-screening checklist and begin the paperwork.

Those who enroll at one of the workshops should bring aerial photographs of their farm and any conservation or nutrient and pest management plans, Behar said.
Who's eligible?

To participate in the program, farmers must be established as a farm operator with the Farm Service Agency and must have documented control of the land for the term of the contract.

The applicant and the farm must be in compliance with provisions for highly erodible land and wetland conservation, and the farmer must have nonfarm income less than $1 million or meet federal adjusted gross income provisions.

Land also must be privately owned agricultural land or nonindustrial private forestland or tribal land.

Heidi Clausen can be reached at clausen@amerytel.net. Jim Massey contributed to this story.

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