Almost as soon as the USDA offered to admit land in need of high-priority stewardship practices into the long-term Conservation Reserve Program, the House Agriculture chairman threatened on Thursday to void the offer. “I am going to stop it somehow or other,” chairman Collin Peterson told two USDA officials. “If I have to sue you, I will.”
Peterson said the USDA had overstepped its authority and undermined good management of the reserve by announcing that it will accept applications starting June 3 to enroll land in the program under the so-called continuous enrollment option. Continuous enrollment is reserved for comparatively small land parcels where high-priority practices, such as filter strips or wetlands restoration, will be implemented. The USDA plans a “general” signup, which covers entire fields or large tracts of land, in December.
Created in 1985, the Conservation Reserve Program is the largest U.S. land-idling program. It pays landowners an annual rent to take fragile land out of production for 10 or 15 years. Rates are considerably higher for continuous enrollment land than for general enrollment land. The 2018 farm law calls for expanding the reserve to 27 million acres from the current limit of 24 million acres, and directs the USDA to reduce rental rates from present levels, which average $134 an acre for continuous enrollment and $52 an acre for general enrollment, although continuous land would retain an advantage.
But by opening continuous enrollment months ahead of general enrollment, the USDA could create a land rush for continuous enrollment, with its higher payments, said Peterson, a wildlife supporter and a fan of large-tract enrollment. The chairman aired his complaints during a House Agriculture subcommittee meeting.
“You’re going to create a situation where farmers are going to go out and do everything they can, once they find out about these new rental rates, to get into the continuous,” said Peterson, which would mean less room in the reserve for large-tract entries. “These small tracts are not doing anything for wildlife.”
Richard Fordyce, head of the Farm Service Agency, which runs the Conservation Reserve, said “thorough analysis” had determined that the USDA could, “under limited circumstances,” reopen continuous enrollment before publication of new regulations to bring the reserve into line with the new farm bill. When Peterson asked why the USDA was not doing the same for general enrollments, Fordyce said, “We are continuing to go through these decisions.”
The USDA said it would offer one-year extensions of Conservation Reserve contracts that expire this year, if the contract has run for 14 years or less. Contracts are set to expire on Sept. 30 for 1.6 million acres of the 22.4 million acres now enrolled in the program.
“This action [contract extension] is especially important if FSA will not hold a general signup before contracts expire this year,” said Texas farmer Ben Scholz, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. “We encourage USDA to move quickly to implement the 2018 farm bill and to allow enrollment options for producers in all the conservation programs.”
With few prospects of an improvement in commodity prices, the Conservation Reserve offers the assurance of annual revenue.
To watch a video of the subcommittee hearing, click here.