3-12 IAN CRP Sign-Up

USDA Announces New Conservation Reserve Sign-up

 The Idaho Farm Service Agency currently has over 640 thousand acres in various CRP practices with 164,662 scheduled to expire on September 30, 2012.  In the past two years Idaho FSA enrolled or renewed 233,884 acres of private working lands in conservation programs, working with more than 1200 farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices that clean the air we breathe filter the water we drink, and prevent soil erosion.

FSA Executive Director in Idaho had this to say: “I’d like to remind farmers and ranchers that the USDA Farm Service Agency will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning today and ending on April 6. CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting Idaho’s natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to farmers, ranchers and rural communities across the United States.”

FSA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance that helps them establish the selected cover. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years. Producers with expiring contracts and those with environmentally sensitive land are encouraged to evaluate their options under CRP. Producers also are encouraged to look into CRP’s other enrollment opportunities offered on a continuous, non-competitive, signup basis. By offering this signup to new producers and those with expiring CRP, we hope to retain practices that have been very successful as well as establish new healthy habitat in sensitive areas of Idaho which allows us to be better stewards of the land.”

Offers for CRP contracts are ranked according to the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI). USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) collects data for each of the EBI factors based on the relative environmental benefits for the land offered. Each eligible offer is ranked in comparison to all other offers and selections made from that ranking. FSA uses the following EBI factors to assess the environmental benefits for the land offered:

·       Wildlife habitat benefits resulting from covers on contract acreage;

·       Water quality benefits from reduced erosion, runoff and leaching;

·       On-farm benefits from reduced erosion;

·       Benefits that will likely endure beyond the contract period;

·       Air quality benefits from reduced wind erosion; and  Cost.

·     For more information about CRP in your area contact your local FSA office.