04/10/06 CRP signing deadline very near

They haven't seen a lot of activity in Idaho but the signup deadline for enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program is this Friday, April 14th. Idaho FSA Director Wayne Hammon says producers and landowners who received an offer to re-enroll or extend their contracts past next year's expiration date also have a Friday deadline. HAMMON "We have over 800 thousand of the state enrolled in it and much of that was done ten years ago and those are now expiring." More than half of the Idaho CRP acres were enrolled in 1997. If they accept the offer, producers pay a 45 dollar compliance review fee and one dollar per acre on acreage enrolled in the current CRP contract, up to a 500 dollar limit. If a farmer fails to re-enroll or take the extension, his CRP contract will end September 30, 2007. HAMMON "And that land will be released from CRP. That means the producer can start farming it again but it also means he won't receive any government checks from the land anymore." FSA will evaluate the eligible CRP offers with the EBI, the Environmental Benefits Index which ranks the land's contribution to improving soil retention, water and air quality and wildlife habitat. The EBI cutoff will be determined after all the sign-ups have been analyzed. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott