08/20/08 Conservation chief mindful of specialty crops

Washington Ag August 20, 2008 Farmers who receive federal subsidies for the crops they produce are pretty familiar with the range of government programs. Specialty crop producers may not be. Arlen Lancaster, chief of USDA's Natural Resources and Conservation Service, says that's one of the things officials learned during the farm bill debate. Also; Lancaster: "But it did point out that we need to look at some of our payment schedules to say, are we really reflecting the cost of this conservation practice when it is an orchard versus a corn field or a wheat field, because there are differences in the conservation management and those costs the producer would incur. So that is one of the things we are looking at is, is maybe we did not recognize as well those unique costs in some of our payment structures." Lancaster says implementation of the conservation programs of the new farm bill are an opportune time to inform specialty crop growers that those programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, are for everyone. Lancaster: "So, if I am an organic apple producer; you know what, the EQIP program is not just for wheat growers in Washington. I can go in. It is not just for forestland owners. I can go in. So my hope is we will take advantage of this opportunity to say, yeah these programs work for me." I'm Bob Hoff.