10/06/06 CREP signups

It's designed to help recharge the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. 33 contracts for CREP, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs were finalized this week. Farm Service Agency state director Wayne Hammon says 32 contracts went to Bingham County, the other one to Lincoln County. HAMMON "Jerome County, Minidoka County and several others are ready and we'll probably have contracts approved this week or next." The initial contracts represented about 44 hundred irrigated acres. HAMMON "Its for 15 years. Its going to shut off irrigation pumps and leave that water in the aquifer so that it can help recharge and rebuild our underground water supply. That's the water we use for wells, drinking water for our cities, it's the water we use to fuel the dairy industry in the Magic Valley." Hammon says he can take up to 100 thousand Idaho acres between now and December 2007, with 50 thousand acres of land already being processed by FSA. HAMMON "This also sets a price for acre and its around 140 dollars an acre and so as long as we stay under 100 thousand acres then we're guaranteed the money will be there." Your FSA office has all the information you'll need on CREP. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott