08/20/08 This is not your old CSP

Farm and Ranch August 20, 2008 Ask USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service chief Arlen Lancaster if the new Conservation Stewardship Program is similar to the old CSP, Conservation Security Program, and he will tell you, no, not at all. Lancaster: "It is an entirely new program. The way this program has been developed the eligibility requirement is very low. But at the same time Congress has said that nationwide you can only enroll 12.6 million acres a year in the program. So once you divide that up in the country, that means you are going to have very, very few acres going in in any given state or county. So although the eligibility is very low to get in the program you really are going to have to be the best of the best. And you are going to have to commit to do a lot more." So the watershed based eligibility is gone opening up 930 million acres plus to the program. So again, Lancaster emphasizes how tough it will be to get in to the new CSP. Lancaster: "Once you get into that scenario where you can only enroll 12 million acres a year we have to come up with some ranking process to evaluate applications to say who has done the most and who is willing to do the most. So we are developing the rules for that program as we speak. And a key message I think for you listeners is that the bar will be high. Only 12 million acres are going to get in a year. And that is a pretty stiff competition nationwide." Contract duration in the new CSP is only five years instead of ten. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.