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| USDA extends CSP sign-up for Sandusky Watershed through May |
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By JANE HOUIN
Ohio correspondent Washington, D.C. — Ohio’s Sandusky Watershed is one of 51 eligible watersheds nationwide where farmers will have two additional weeks to apply for the Conservation Security Program (CSP) in fiscal year 2008.
Originally, the CSP sign-up was scheduled to run from April 18-May 16, but the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced recently that sign-up has been extended to May 30.
“NRCS recognizes the inopportune timing of this year’s sign-up and that farmers and ranchers are busy in their fields. We want to give them as much time as possible,” NRCS chief Arlen Lancaster said. “We are extending the sign-up as much as possible to allow producers adequate time to gather natural resource information and complete the required self-assessment and applicant interview.
“This two-week extension represents the fullest accommodation we can make and deliver a program this year.”
Natural disasters – such as excessive spring rains and flooding in certain parts of the country causing delays in planting – also played a role in the decision to extend the sign-up, Lancaster said. As a result, many farmers and ranchers had little time to gather their records to meet the CSP sign-up requirements.
The 51 watersheds eligible to participate in the program include more than 64,500 potentially eligible farms and ranches in nearly 24 million acres of cropland and grazing land throughout the United States, the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean Area. Approximately 3,300 farms are in the Sandusky Watershed, which extends into 11 counties in northern Ohio.
“As President Bush has said, those who depend on the land to make a living are the best stewards of the land,” said Secretary of Agriculture Ed Shafer. “Since the first sign-up in 2004, CSP has offered payments for enhancing natural resources, rewarding those farmers and ranchers who are model conservationists and providing incentives for other producers to achieve those same high standards of conservation in agriculture.”
A voluntary program, CSP encourages and rewards producers who practice outstanding stewardship on working agricultural land by offering financial incentives that increase with the level of conservation effort. Soil and water quality are the primary focus of this program; however, goals also include improved wildlife habitat, air quality and environmentally responsible energy production.
Payments can include three parts: an annual stewardship component for the base level of conservation treatment; an annual component for maintenance of existing conservation practices; and an enhancement component for exceptional conservation effort. Enhancement activities could include limited pesticide applications, renewable energy generation and widening existing riparian forest buffers for restoring critical stream habitat.
To apply for CSP, NRCS asks potential participants to complete a CSP self-assessment workbook – available on the Web or from local NRCS offices – to find out if their operation meets the requirements and qualifies for program participation. The self-assessment is completed using a self-screening questionnaire for each land use to be enrolled.
When this process is completed, the producer submits the CSP workbook to the local NRCS office during the sign-up period and meets with NRCS personnel to go over any additional documentation. NRCS will determine if eligibility is met and provide options for the producer’s decision on enrollment category placement.
In Fall 2006, the Internal Revenue Service ruled CSP qualifies as a small watershed program and that cost-share payments received under the existing practice and new practice components of CSP are eligible for exclusion from gross income. Payments under the stewardship component, however, are based on the rental rate applicable to the land and are not cost-share payments, meaning that those payments are not eligible for exclusion from gross income.
Additionally, payments under the enhancement component that are based on an activity’s expected conservation benefits rather than on its cost are not defined as cost-share payments, making them ineligible for exclusion from gross income as well.
Beyond those general guidelines, NRSC employees are not to provide advice on how a producer should handle their particular tax reports or accounting, and it is the program participant’s responsibility to work with their tax advisors to determine how to report the payments. Additional tax information may be found in IRS publications, such as Publication 225, the Farmer’s Tax Guide.
It is important to note that the 1099 form will not show an itemized breakdown of all CSP payments; participants will need to review their CSP contract and payment applications to determine the amount for each payment component, such as the stewardship, existing practice, new practice and enhancement payments.
NRCS held the first CSP sign-up in 2004. This year’s announcement brings the number of watersheds enrolled to 331 across the nation, covering 247.7 million acres that have been eligible for the program.
CSP is offered on a rotational basis in as many watersheds as funding allows.
Additional information on CSP, including eligible watersheds and the workbook, is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp
This farm news was published in the May 21, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 5/21/2008 |
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