NCGA Reminds Members of CRP Sign-up Deadline (3-28-06)

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), longtime advocates for stewardship and environmentally beneficial land conservation programs, is reminding corn growers the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up period began March 27 and continues through April 14. The CRP offers become effective Oct.1.

Citing limited acreage available for CRP enrollment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is encouraging landowners to work with their local FSA office and submit their offers as soon as possible.

“NCGA continues to be committed to improving the environment through federal and state conservation programs like CRP,” said Bill Chase, NCGA Production and Stewardship Action Team chairman. “CRP is one of the most widely used conservation programs for corn growers. It encourages all producers to improve not just the land, but water sources, air and wildlife areas. We pride ourselves on being stewards of the land we use to produce and live on.”

Producers volunteer to participate in the CRP. Producers enroll erodible and other fragile cropland in CRP through long-term contracts of 10 to 15 years where they plant grasses, trees and other vegetation. In exchange, participants receive annual rental payments and a payment of up to 50 percent of the cost of establishing conservation covers. The current 36 million acres enrolled have, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), resulted in numerous benefits to the environment.

Similar to other sign ups, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will be evaluating the eligible CRP offers with the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI), a ranking of the land's contribution to improving soil retention, water, wildlife habitat and air quality. FSA will determine the EBI cutoff after the sign-up ends by analyzing the EBI factors of all offers. Because the EBI cutoff used in previous sign-ups may be different for this sign-up, those who met previous EBI thresholds are not guaranteed a contract under this sign-up.

In addition to general sign-up, producers may enroll the most environmentally sensitive land in CRPs continuous sign-up and other CRP initiatives. More information on these initiatives and the general sign-up is available at local FSA offices and on FSA's Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/cepd/crpinfo.htm.