 NEWS
Farm Service Agency
Public Affairs Staff
1400 Independence Ave SW
Stop 0506, Room 3624-South
Washington, D.C. 20250-0506
Release No. 1554.04
Jillene Johnson (202) 720-9733
USDA ANNOUNCES CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM REFINEMENTS
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2004 -- The U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) today announced
several program refinements to the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP), including important program modifications on
enrollment eligibility, new software development, plans for
a stakeholders' conference in June and timing of a future
general CRP sign-up.
A final rule, published today in the Federal Register,
adopts changes made to CRP by the 2002 Farm Bill, including
the increase in the acreage cap by 2.8 million acres to a
total of 39.2 million acres, expanding eligible acreage,
extending the farmable wetlands program nationwide and
permitting managed haying and grazing of CRP land. An
interim final CRP rule was published on May 8, 2003 and FSA
received 800 comments.
In addition, the rule expands the "conserving use"
definition to allow cropland previously enrolled in CRP that
continues to be maintained as though enrolled in CRP to be
considered as "conserving use." This expanded definition
allows this land to be eligible for future sign-ups. In
addition, the final rule adds certain marginal pasturelands
for riparian buffers or similar water quality purposes as
eligible land.
Several critical software advancements will contribute
to better administration of the CRP. FSA has developed new
web-based software that will more efficiently rank offers
based on environmental benefits and cost, calculate maximum
payment rates and provide eligibility determinations. The
software incorporates several databases, including soils,
Conservation Priority Areas and watersheds, to allow for
more precise eligibility, financial, and other
determinations in a timely fashion. These enhancements will
speed the offer process and require less FSA processing
time, resulting in program cost savings.
FSA also has developed a CRP Geographic Information
System (GIS) tool to be used by county offices to calculate
acreage and the maximum soil rental rate for land being
offered. FSA has been working to transform all of its
farmland maps to a digital or GIS format. This conversion
allows for more accurate acreage calculations and for a more
precise mapping of soil types. The GIS tool will also
reduce many of the manual tracking and calculations done in
the county offices and result in more efficient program
administration.
Over 16 million acres of CRP contracts will expire in
2007 and another 6 million in 2008. In order to better
understand the impact of these expirations and other factors
on the future structure of CRP, FSA is hosting, in
conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey, a stakeholders'
conference, "CRP: Planting for the Future."
The conference will be held June 6-9 in Fort Collins,
Colo., and will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas,
discuss issues and help define the future of CRP.
Specifically, USDA's objectives for the conference include:
* Assessing the economic and environmental impacts of the
program;
* Identifying lessons learned from CRP implementation that
can be applied to increasing program effectiveness and
efficiency; and
* Outlining research required of the scientific community to
better understand the implications of CRP management
options, among others.
Additional information on the conference, including
the program agenda and registration materials, is available
on FSA's Web site at
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/crpconf.asp.
USDA earlier announced its intention to conduct
another general sign-up in early 2004. USDA now plans to
issue the details of the next general sign-up in the summer,
when agricultural market conditions and demands for resource
use of this year's crop become clearer.
More information on CRP is available at local FSA
offices and on FSA's Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov.
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