02/16/07 Proposed CRP signup hold

The US Department of Agriculture's proposed budget for 2008 has money in it for Conservation Reserve Program signups on fragile lands, mostly wetlands. But chief economist Keith Collins says there will be no general CRP signups for two years. COLLINS "We are looking at near record wheat prices, record corn prices, very tight row crop markets across the board, high feed prices for the livestock sector. In that kind of environment if you hold general signups you in effect bid land away from crop production." That's going to mean a reduction of three million CRP acres over the next couple of years, practically none of it coming out of Idaho but in time Collins expects the corn demand for ethanol will balance out. COLLINS "With 37 million acres in 2007, drop down to about 34 million acres in a couple of years and then slowly enroll up to the statutory cap of 39.2 million acres by 2016. Idaho will see little effect from this. State FSA Director Wayne Hammon says many Idaho producers who are in the CRP program took advantage of extensions offered to them a couple of years ago. Many counties are already capped at the maximum CRP acreage so new signups were already unlikely. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott