05/15/08 CSP signup extension

Tomorrow was supposed to be the deadline for CSP signups in selected watersheds. LANCASTER "Producers in these 51 watersheds have been waiting for two years for this program and again while it's an inopportune time to hold the signup this was really our only opportunity to reach out to those producers and give them a chance to get into the Conservation Security Program." That's USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service chief Arlen Lancaster. He has extended the CSP signup for two weeks until May 30th. LANCASTER "I would have liked it to have been longer but in order to offer a program this year that's really as long as we could wait before we closed the signup and started to work with those producers to get them into their contracts that we can get the money out the door this year." In Idaho the Little Lost watershed is eligible for signup this year. That watershed covers nearly 45 thousand acres near Howe and Arco and NRCS says its possible that 95 percent of the 76 eligible farms and ranches in Butte, Custer, Lemhi and Clark counties will sign up for CSP. To assess their current levels of conservation producers should review the CSP self-assessment guide at the NRCS website or in hard copy at a USDA service center. There is also a map of the Little Lost watershed. To be eligible this year an agricultural operation must be within the watershed boundaries. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott