Second CRP Signup Underway,
USDA Offers Application Aid

WASHINGTON —(AP)— The U.S. Agriculture Department is giving farmers a second chance this year to put land in the Conservation Reserve Program, and agency officials say they're helping producers tailor their applications to get them accepted.

Acreage in the program has dropped from nearly 33 million acres to less than 28 million this year. The drop was especially sharp in Minnesota, Iowa and other corn-producing states.

Despite some changes intended to encourage enrollment, land in that region still could be disqualified because of its relatively high cost.

"We can't be any more than cautiously optimistic," said Dave Nomsen, director of governmental affairs for Minnesota-based Pheasants Forever, a conservation group that wants to increase acreage in the program.

USDA started taking a new round of applications for the program on Tuesday, the second signup this year. The signup period ends Nov. 14.

"I think we have a more consistent program nationwide and we're open for business," said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

The department has made changes in the formula that's used to evaluate the bids that farmers make, and agency officials promise to work with growers to help them write their applications.

Farmers who improve their land for wildlife habitat or ask for less than the maximum payment are more likely to get into the program. To idle more land in the Pacific Northwest, the department also is giving more weight to the air quality benefits from cutting wind erosion, Glickman said.

Farmers are also being encouraged to offer only those parcels that are the most vulnerable to erosion and the least productive as cropland. That should help farmers in the Cornbelt get their land accepted, USDA officials said.

Under the program, farmers are paid to keep land out of production for 10 to 15 years and plant it to trees, shrubs and grass.

The program was overhauled this year to place more emphasis on environmental protection and less on controlling what kinds of crops are planted on farms.

That caused some confusion in the spring signup, in which more than 7.1 million acres were rejected.

"We were rather rushed" in that signup, Glickman said. "There was some belief out there that farmers did not get the information and technical assistance that they needed."

CRP acreage in Minnesota has dropped from 1.6 million to less than 790,000 this year. The department accepted less than 40 percent of the acreage that Minnesota farmers offered in the spring signup.

Meanwhile, acreage in the Dakotas went up. North Dakota became the No. 1 CRP state with 3.4 million acres, up from 2.8 million. South Dakota's rose slightly from just under 1.7 million acres to over 1.72 million.

The department is authorized to enroll up to 36.4 million acres. Some 4.8 million acres is scheduled to leave the program next fall.