06/09/06 Acceptance rates up for CRP in Wash

Washington Ag June 9, 2006 Results of the 33rd general sign up for the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program are in. And Rod Hamilton of the state Farm Service Agency office says Washington farmers and landowners did pretty well getting accepted into the CRP. Hamilton: "It looks like we had fairly high acceptance here in the state, somewhere around 88-89%. That is in keeping with some of the sign ups in the late 1990s. Our acceptance rate wasn't quite that high in the last coule of sign ups, but it looks like we are back up in that range again." Just under 87 thousand acres of the nearly 103-thousand acres offered were accepted into the CRP, which pays farmers a rental for converting environmentally sensitive cropland to grassland and other wildlife enhancing cover. The largest acreages accepted were in the states two largest wheat producing counties, Whitman with an average per acre rental of $70.23 and Lincoln with an average rental rate of $62.27. Hamilton says county offices reported the current economics of soft white wheat production was a factor in producer interest with more whole farm offers this time around. Total land in the CRP in Washington will increase from the current approximately 1.5 million to 1.6 million acres this fall with nine counties now having reached the maximum of 25 percent of their cropland in CRP. I'm Bob Hoff.