Farm Programs: For over 20 years CRP has helped soil, water, wildlife

June 20, 2008 03:04 am

— In 2006, the Conservation Reserve Program celebrated its 20th anniversary, and two decades of conservation success. The CRP was originally established in the 1985 farm bill, and today has over 400,000 landowners participating, most of who are farmers and ranchers, and involves nearly 35 million acres under some type of CRP contract. Some of the 20-year benefits of the CRP cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture include:
• 450 million tons of soil erosion reduced annually;
• 2 million acres of wetlands and buffers restored;
• 48 million metric tons of carbon dioxide removed;
• 170,000 miles of banks protected along rivers and streams;
• An additional 2.3 million ducks produced each year from restored CRP wetlands;
• Enhanced populations of pheasants, quail and other wildlife species.
There are currently 34 Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs in 27 states in targeted watersheds, which has generated an additional $1 billion in state and private funds for federal conservation efforts through the CRP.
As of April 30, there was a total of 34.7 million acres enrolled in the CRP, which is down from 36.8 million acres on Sept. 30, 2007. CRP contracts expired on approximately 2.6 million acres on Sept. 30, 2007; however, an additional 515,000 acres have been added to the CRP since that time through continuous CRP enrollment and CREP enrollments.
Currently there are approximately 30.6 million acres under general CRP contracts, 2.9 million acres under continuous CRP contracts and 1.1 million acres under CREP contracts. There has not been a general CRP sign-up in the past couple of years, and no general CRP sign-up is planned in the immediate future. Sign-up for continuous CRP is on-going, and will continue to be on-going under the new farm bill, which was just approved by Congress. Continuous CRP targets the most sensitive environmental land areas, such as filter strips, buffers, wetlands, etc. The CREP is a CRP partnership with state conservation programs, which target specific watersheds.
CRP contract holders with contracts that expired in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 were given the opportunity to extend their expiring CRP contracts for an additional five to 10 years. CRP contracts are normally 10- or 15-year contracts. A total of 87 percent of the eligible acres that were set to expire on Sept. 30, 2007, or 13.5 million acres, were re-enrolled back into the CRP.
For 2008-10, 9.5 million CRP acres, or 78 percent of the eligible acres, have been re-enrolled back into the CRP. It should be noted that the CRP re-enrollment period was a couple of years ago, before the current dramatic rise in grain prices and improved profitability in crop production.
Following is the listing of expiring CRP acres on Sept. 30 each year for the next five years.
• 2008: 1.2 million acres
• 2009: 3.9 million acres
• 2010: 4.5 million acres
• 2011: 4.4 million acres
• 2012: 5.6 million acres
Some of those acres are continuous CRP acres that are on more highly sensitive environmental lands, which will most likely be offered for and encouraged for CRP re-enrollment by the USDA. However, the majority of the expiring CRP acres in the coming years are general CRP acres, which may or may not be offered up for re-enrollment by the USDA, and landowners may not be as willing to re-enroll the CRP acres, if commodity prices remain at high levels.
Twelve states have more than 1 million acres in the CRP, which accounts for about 75 percent of the CRP acres in the United States. Following is a list of the top 12 CRP states, how many CRP acres were enrolled on April 30, 2008, and the decline in CRP acres from Sept. 30, 2007.
Texas: 3.9 million acres (136,280 acre decline)
Montana: 3.3 million acres (167,720 acre decline)
Kansas: 3.1 million acres (128,340 acre decline)
North Dakota: 3 million acres (361,920 acre decline)
Colorado: 2.4 million acres (36,893 acre decline)
Iowa: 1.8 million acres (142,069 acre decline)
Minnesota: 1.8 million acres (55,163 acre decline)
Washington: 1.5 million acres (15,059 acre decline)
Missouri: 1.4 million acres (134,455 acre decline)
South Dakota: 1.3 million acres (263,766 acre decline)
Nebraska: 1.2 million acres (98,069 acre decline)
Illinois: 1.1 million acres (24,854 acre decline)
The future of CRP
The recently passed farm bill caps the maximum CRP acres at 32 million acres, compared to 39.2 million acres in the 2002 farm bill. The reduction from the current level of 34.7 million CRP acres down to a maximum of 32 million or less CRP acres can likely be achieved in the next few years, given the large number of expiring CRP acres from 2008-12. Sign-up of additional CRP acreage under the new farm bill is likely to have an even stronger focus on the environmental benefits achieved on a given land parcel through CRP enrollment.
Unanswered questions regarding future CRP participation
Given the current short supply of grain stocks in the United States and worldwide, as well as the relatively high commodity prices, will the USDA allow for an early-out option with no penalty for some CRP contract holders?
Will existing or new CRP acres be made available to harvest grasses and forages for cellulosic renewable fuel production?
The bottom-line is that the CRP has more than 20 years of success of protecting sensitive environmental lands, reducing soil erosion, improving water quality and enhancing wildlife. The CRP is popular with farmers, the general public and policy makers, and will continue to be a major USDA conservation program. However, economic pressures and the need for alternative fuels in the United States may lead to some changes in the CRP, compared to what the CRP has looked like in the past 20 years.
CRP acres available for haying and grazing
The USDA has announced that eligible landowners with CRP contracts may be able to hay or graze their CRP acres later this year, without penalty or without their 2008 CRP contract payments being reduced. This action is being taken by the USDA to help livestock producers, especially cattle producers, who are facing high feed costs and potential hay shortages in some areas. The option to take one cutting of hay or to graze CRP acreage is for 2008 only, and is not an early-out option for CRP contracts. There are approximately 24 million CRP acres, of the more than 32 million total CRP acres in the United States, eligible for this haying and grazing program option. CRP acres in highly sensitive environmental areas, such as wetlands, buffers and filter strips will not be eligible for haying and grazing.
The haying and grazing on CRP acres must take place after primary wildlife nesting has ended, which is around Aug. 1 in the Upper Midwest, and must be completed by Nov. 10. Haying may only take place on a maximum of 50 percent of eligible CRP acres, and grazing on 75 percent of eligible CRP acres.
As mentioned earlier, 2008 CRP contract payments will still be made as scheduled to CRP contract holders who choose to take part in the CRP haying and grazing option; however, there will be a $75 administrative fee per CRP contract charged by the USDA for requesting the CRP haying and grazing option.
It is allowable for eligible CRP contract holders to lease rights to another farmer to harvest one crop of hay or to graze the CRP acres, within the guidelines established by the USDA. Landowners interested in the CRP haying and grazing option for 2008, should contact their county Farm Service Agency office.

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