09/05/08 Schafer on CRP and ACRE

In late July when Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said USDA would not allow a penalty free early out for CRP contracts for the '09 crop year. Door closed. But now Schafer cracked the door just a bit when he said he might look at that issue again. SCHAFER "And certainly we will if we have an early frost , if supplies change out there, if the crop predictions are not correct we will reevaluate everything that we have on the table and certainly one of those issues is the early release of CRP." But the criteria for that would be the same as in July but as of now no penalty free early out on Conservation Reserve contracts. Schafer has a problem with ACRE, the new farm support program based on revenue. When farmers wanted the best prices USDA told them to use 2007-08 figures but the farm bill had a budget based on the lower crop prices. Not only would payments go up, more farmers would enroll in ACRE. SCHAFER "This has a potential of costing the taxpayers twelve billion dollars more so it's a very delicate issue. We're negotiating with Congress. We're looking at the numbers. We have to make a decision that's going to affect the pocketbook of the taxpayers." ACRE signups are going on right now. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott