03/14/07 Burn ban affects conservation agreements

NRCS is trying to get the word out to Idaho farmers who normally burned their fields after harvest. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put a halt to that practice and state conservationist Rich Sims says that decision could affect a lot of farmers who operate under a conservation compliance plan. SIMS "Producers may have written burning their straw residue or their bluegrass resident into their conservation plan. We if they've done that they need to find a different way to take care of that residue." Sims wants producers to come to his office and talk about their goals before they plow that residue under and then find out they're in violation of a 1990 conservation compliance agreement. Some producers used bluegrass as a rotation crop in their Conservation Security Program SIMS "If they decide to take out their bluegrass then they need to find a different type of rotation and they need to come in and talk with us because the rotation that they used was part of the Conservation Security Program. Sims says bluegrass seed growers in North Idaho are still debating what to do now that they cannot burn their fields and are still looking at alternatives. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott