By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Nationally, the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has lost more than 2.4 million acres in the past year, putting total land in the program nationally at a little more than 31.1 million acres as of October 2009.

In March 2007, Farm World reported there were 36.7 million acres in the CRP at that time and farmers were electing not to re-enroll 4.6 million acres, about one-third of which were in major corn-producing states.

At the time, corn futures were on the rise and there was great debate about whether the USDA secretary should release a large percentage of arable contracted CRP acres without financial penalty, to grow the crop.

A big decision each landowner under contract was looking at was whether they would earn enough profit farming the land to make up for losing federal conservation rent and paying an early-out penalty to the government.

Whether there is still demand nationally for release of acres, according to the Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA), Hoosier landowners aren’t getting out of the CRP quickly.

“In fact, we’ve seen a lot of reenrollment,” said Michelle Howell, FSA conservation program specialist, of continuous contracts.

A continuous contract obligates the landowner for a period of 10-15 years to not farm on or otherwise develop the tract of land. When the contract is up, the FSA may offer the owner a reenrolled contract if the land still meets guidelines – thus, the “continuous” description.

General signups for first-time participants and lapsed landowners are only offered every so often. The last one was 2006; the next one is scheduled in 2010.

“We’re kind of plugging along,” said Gail Peas of Indiana. “We didn’t have any huge changes (from the 2002 farm bill).”
Complementing CRP

Peas, the state’s FSA conservation program chief, touched on three other programs as well. One is State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE). Signup availability is ongoing, but in Indiana, Peas said the current 13,000-acre cap is within 100 acres of being filled. This program is meant to protect habitats for endangered species.
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) allows eligible landowners in watersheds to enroll farmable land for environmental protection – also in exchange for rent revenue. Indiana only has three eligible watersheds at present, though Peas said the state Department of Agriculture (ISDA) has petitioned the USDA to add eight more; she noted the USDA secretary could approve it at any time.

“So far, the three watersheds that we have, the demand has not exceeded what we have (available),” she explained.

Right now, the state can only admit up to 7,000 acres, and 6,000 are enrolled. If the ISDA’s entire request is greenlighted, it would raise the state allowable to 26,000 acres. This is a federal-state payment partnership – Peas said the state’s share is paid out of the Clean Water Indiana Fund, a revolving fund supported by cigarette taxes.

For information on these programs, go online to www.fsa.usda.gov