PAGES

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Conservation Stewardship Program gets more signups as Conservation Reserve shrinks

Farmers are increasingly removing land from the Conservation Reserve Program to "cash in on higher-than-ever crop prices," but the similar Conservation Stewardship Program received so many sign-ups last week it won't be able to take them all. Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture can accept only 10.8 million acres of the 19 million offered. Dave White, chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, said contrary to a belief that sign-ups for programs are low, "high stewardship ethics" of ranchers, farmers and forest land owners have boosted sign-ups.

Differences between the programs are slight, but significant. Both are voluntary and provide landowners yearly payments from USDA, but the CRP offers payments in exchange for planting cover vegetation on former cropland to prevent erosion and water pollution and create habitat for wildlife. The CSP calls for "improving, maintaining and managing existing conservation activities," and starting more such activities. It pays for "operation-level environmental benefits."

No comments:

Post a Comment