Producers Have CRP Options and Incentives Available

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NGPC news release, 10/29/08:

LINCOLN, Neb. –– Farmers have a lot on their minds this fall. Weather has made the harvest season more challenging than most. The volatile crop markets and 2009 input prices also are concerns. Farmers will note from the cabs of their combines those areas in fields that aren’t meeting production expectations.

For those farmers included in the Central Basins Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), the option now is available to enroll cropped pivot corners or unproductive spots in fields into the CREP as wildlife resource areas.

“When this option was first offered in 2003, interest in the program within four months exceeded the 21,000 acres available for the wildlife resource areas, and enrollment was closed,” said Tim McCoy, CREP coordinator and agriculture program manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

“We just want to make sure that producers and landowners know that they again have this unique option, with additional enrollment incentives available,” he said. “We can enroll around 16,000 acres this time, so the acres may go fast.”

The Central Basins CREP area in Nebraska includes all or parts of the following counties: Wayne, Antelope, Boone, Madison, Stanton, Cuming, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Burt, Washington, Merrick, Polk, Butler, Saunders, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton, York, Seward, Lancaster, Phelps, Kearney, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Saline, Franklin, Webster, Nuckolls, Thayer, Jefferson, Gage, and Pawnee.

Funding for the project is a combination of state and federal funds, including a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to help provide incentive payments to producers who enroll.

Additional incentives available for enrolling the wildlife habitat areas include:

-- annual payments of 120 percent of the USDA-Farm Services Agency (FSA) CRP soil rental rate,

-- state incentive payments of $100 per corner or small field enrolled and an additional $100 if all four corners of a pivot are enrolled,

-- 50 percent federal cost-share for establishing perennial cover from FSA, with an additional 30 percent state and local cost-share from the Commission and Pheasants Forever. Croplands do not have to be highly erodible to be enrolled but do have to meet CRP requirements for recent crop production.

“With FSA’’s newly updated CRP rental rates and the state incentives, we expect this program to provide a viable option for landowners and wildlife in the central basin area,” McCoy said.

Landowners may enroll in the program at their local FSA office; sign-up for the program is continuous on a first-come, first-served basis until all acres are obligated.