Economist Sees Flaw In USDA
Plan To Change CRP Program

BOZEMAN, Mont. —(AP)— An agricultural economist believes some land that merits protection through the Conservation Reserve Program will be left to deteriorate if a proposed CRP rule change is adopted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is writing rules for the newest version of the CRP, a program that began in 1985. Through CRP, millions of acres of erodible farmland have been idled by the owners, who then receive government compensation.

Agricultural economist James Johnson of Montana State University in Bozeman warns the new rules would pay landowners more money if they enroll land with higher quality soil, rather than land with lower quality soil. The lower quality land would end up being farmed, he believes.

"We know from the 1996 Congress and the rule that has been proposed that three of the objectives of CRP are a reduction of soil erosion, improved water quality and wildlife habitat," Johnson said. "This rule would probably miss the mark quite a bit on the first two objectives."

Montana CRP contract holders surveyed by MSU in recent years indicated 85 percent of the land they had enrolled in CRP would be rebid for inclusion in another round of the program, if Congress reauthorized CRP. But now there is concern the proposed rule addressed by Johnson will affect willingness to put land up for consideration.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting comment on the proposed rules through Nov. 7.

Some sportsmen's groups also are concerned about rule changes in a program they believe has helped bird populations.

Jeffrey S. Finden, chief executive officer of Pheasants Forever, said that since CRP began, it has doubled or tripled pheasant populations over much of their range; tripled waterfowl production in the prairie region; and benefited threatened grassland species.

"I have been hunting birds since I was 10 years old and I cannot name any program that has been more beneficial to upland birds since the Soil Bank years," said Bernie Kuntz, regional information officer for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The Soil Bank program was in place in the 1950s but was canceled in the early 1960s, "and pheasant hunting went from very, very good to very poor overnight because there was no cover," Kuntz said. "Pheasants can't survive in this climate without cover."