News release
April 19, 2007
Conservation Security Program catalyst for midwest farm conservation, Program popular among farmers despite funding cuts
WISCONSIN | APRIL 19, 2007-- A report released today by a coalition of Midwest farm organizations finds that the Conservation Security Program (CSP) is spurring new agricultural conservation in the Midwest. Farmers enrolled in the Conservation Security Program are taking advantage of the program's incentives by adding new practices to their farms that protect natural resources. The Conservation Security Program was among the issues addressed today by the House Agriculture Committee in their farm bill hearing.
"The Conservation Security Program is bringing positive changes to our farms and our environment," said Jeanne Merrill, Associate Policy Director, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. "Midwest farmers enrolled in the Conservation Security Program are taking action to help protect our water, soil, air and wildlife."
The report finds that, once enrolled in the working lands program, the majority of farmers are adding new conservation practices to their operations. Farmers can add new practices as part of their initial Conservation Security Program contract. They can also modify their contracts annually and receive higher payments by adding new conservation practices, following their first year of enrollment in the program.
Most commonly, farmers enrolled in the program are adding new wildlife habitat to their farms. Those practices can include planting native grasses, fencing off wetlands and wooded areas, adding winter cover to cropland or adding grassed field borders. Farmers are also adding conservation practices that address nutrient management, reduced pesticide use, farmstead issues, and more.
"I signed up for the Conservation Security Program because it made sense for my farm and for the land," said Mike Peters, organic farmer from Walworth County, Wisconsin. "The Conservation Security Program is paying me to re-establish oak savannah on my farm."
The report reviews the Conservation Security Program in five Midwest states, including Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. CSP was created in the 2002 farm bill and will be up for re-authorization by Congress in the 2007 farm bill. Nationwide, nearly 20,000 farms are enrolled in CSP, totaling 16 million acres. In Wisconsin, 649 farms are enrolled in this working lands program, totaling over 195,000 acres. However, because of funding cuts, only a third of the farmers who qualified for CSP in 2006 were enrolled in the program.
"Overwhelmingly, farmers want the Conservation Security Program to be a part of the next farm bill, but they want secure funding for the program," said Tim Gieseke with the Minnesota Project and author of the report.
Funding limitations have driven the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) of USDA to restrict access to CSP by limiting the program to only select watersheds around the country. Congress has cut $4.3 billion from the Conservation Security Program funding since the program was created in the 2002 Farm Bill.
The report, entitled The Conservation Security Program Drives Resource Management: An Assessment of CSP Implementation in 5 Midwestern States, is a project of the Practical Farmers of Iowa and Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Land Stewardship Project, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Minnesota Project and Missouri Rural Crisis Center.
Download the full report
For more information, please contact:
Jeanne Merrill
MFAI Associate Policy Director
Telephone: 608-256-1859
E-mail: jeannemerrill@earthlink.net