NCGA
Submits Comments on Conservation Reserve Program Long-Term Policy
Issues (12-16-04)
The National
Corn Growers Association (NCGA) this week sent a letter encouraging
the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) to
require all Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expiring
between 2007 and 2010 to compete for reenrollment, using a mechanism
such as the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI). The letter was in
response to FSA’s solicitation of comments on the CRP long-term
policy, enrollment, management and benefits.
“NCGA believes
the EBI is the best way to ensure the program meets its intended
purposes, is fair to producers and provides environmental benefits,”
the letter states. NCGA also said it supports the use of short-term
contract extensions and other options to manage the workload associated
with this type of process.
“CRP is one of
the most important and widely used conservation programs for corn
growers,” said NCGA President Leon Corzine. “Our policy
endorses the targeted enrollment and reenrollment of the most environmentally
sensitive land, such as field borders and filter and buffer strips.”
NCGA also generally supports
a CRP that is voluntary, pays adequate and fair rental rates and
allows farmers to bring land back into production at the end of
their contract if they desire, according to the letter. “We
also support the full utilization of CRP at its maximum authorized
level of 39.2 million acres and the president’s goal of sustaining
the environmental benefits of the program,” noted Corzine.
In response to a question
posed by FSA on whether CRP should be modified to help address hypoxia
in the Gulf of Mexico, NCGA said it strongly opposes changing the
program to address the issue.
“Currently, there
is a serious debate within the scientific community on the question
of placing emphasis on agricultural nitrogen as a likely cause of
hypoxia,” the letter says. “It appears that significant
errors were made in the science used to develop the Hypoxia Action
Plan.”
NCGA encourages a complete
review of the science of hypoxia and related policies once the Environmental
Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has finalized the peer review
of the hypoxia issue.
To view the
letter in its entirety, please click
here.