08/10/07 CSP changes thanks to additional money

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced a couple of changes in the Conservation Security Program. The first pertains to farmers eligible for payments in fiscal year 2007 who received only a partial payment. MCKALIP "What USDA is announcing is that we will make those contracts whole and fund the remainder of a producers' 2007 payment." NRCS's Doug McKalip says on top of that there's an additional 2.9 million dollars that will be available for the next CSP signup period. MCKALIP "So in the remaining months of this fiscal year USDA will be taking steps to prepare our field staff and to do outreach with producers to get them ready for the next CSP signup. Producers in 51 different watersheds across the nation will be eligible for the next signup period. No firm dates for that signup have yet been announced. McKalip says USDA's goal is to expand CSP from a selective watershed award program to something much larger. MCKALIP "The secretary has suggested in the new farm bill proposal is to make the CSP program nationwide and to offer it to every farmer every year with a goal of 96 million acres in the program." Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott