THE LAND, MARCH 2, 2012
36 A
CRP sign-up begins March 12; 25 years of success The U.S. Department of Agriculture has the USDA include: announced a General Conservation • 450 million tons of soil erosion Reserve Program sign-up from March 12 reduced annually. through April 6 at county Farm Service • Each year, the CRP keeps more than Agency offices throughout the country. 600 million pounds of nitrogen and more General CRP sign-ups were also held in than 100 million pounds of phosphorus 2011 when 3.75 million acres were from flowing into rivers, streams and accepted into the CRP, and in 2010 when lakes in the United States. about 4.2 million acres were accepted • 2 million acres of wetlands and into the CRP. FARM PROGRAMS buffers restored. In 2011, the CRP celebrated its 25th • 2 million acres of stream bank proBy Kent Thiesse anniversary, and over two and a half tected along rivers and streams. decades of conservation success. The CRP was originally established in • Enhanced populations of ducks, the 1985 farm bill, and today has pheasants, quail and other wildlife over 400,000 landowners species. participating, most of who • The CRP provides over are farmers and ranchers, $1.7 billion per year to priand currently has just under The USDA plans to target the vate landowners, which are 29.7 million acres under most environmentally sensidollars that help support some type of CRP contracts. tive land with the 2012 CRP local businesses and the local The USDA has cited the economy. sign-up, in order to reduce CRP as the largest and most soil erosion, protect water • The CRP is the largest important conservation program private lands carbon sequesand air quality, and to in recent decades in this countration program in the enhance wildlife protection try. The CRP continues to make United States. In 2010, the major contributions to national and carbon sequestration. CRP resulted in carbon efforts to improve water and air sequestration equal to taking quality, prevent soil erosion, proalmost 10 million cars off the road. tect environmentally sensitive land and enhance • There are currently 43 Conservation Reserve wildlife populations. Some of the benefits of the Enhancement Programs in 32 states in targeted CRP over the past two and a half decades cited by watersheds, which has generated over $1 billion in additional state and private funds for federal conservation efforts through the CRP. The bids that are offered into the CRP for 2012 will be evaluated, using the “environmental benefits index.” The USDA plans to target the most environ-
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Current CRP acreage and expiring CRP acres State Current CRP Expiring CRP acres acres 2012 2013 Texas 3,372,829 827,750 362,269 Kansas 2,532,730 517,577 213,441 Montana 2,506,117 694,602 366,049 North Dakota 2,395,009 838,223 257,885 Colorado 2,179,157 569,560 222,775 Iowa 1,658,517 230,856 184,685 Minnesota 1,566,113 290,064 129,696 Washington 1,491,391 275,344 253,952 Missouri 1,293,828 377,468 184,015 South Dakota 1,107,346 224,863 106,024 Total U.S. CRP 29,659,054 6,523,307 3,316,931 Notes: CRP contracts expire on Sept. 30 each year. The listed data is based on the USDA CRP summary on Jan. 31. mentally sensitive land with the 2012 CRP sign-up, in order to reduce soil erosion, protect water and air quality, and to enhance wildlife protection and carbon sequestration. There will continue to be special focus on buffer strips near rivers and streams. Following are the EBI factors used by the FSA to evaluate the CRP contract offers. • Water quality benefits from reduced erosion, runoff and leaching. • Wildlife habitat benefits from land covers on the CRP contract acreage. • On-farm benefits from reduced soil erosion. • Air quality benefits from reduced wind erosion. • Benefits that will likely endure beyond the CRP contract period. • Cost per acre. Producers with existing CRP contracts that are expiring in 2012 will have no preferential status for keeping their land in the CRP this year, and must resubmit a new CRP bid to be re-enrolled in the CRP. See PROGRAMS, pg. 37A
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