Conservation Reserve
EWG: U.S. needs stronger, more focused conservation program
Voluntary soil and water conservation programs "aren't leading to clean water, clean air and a healthy environment," says the Environmental Working Group in unveiling a database that tracks federal conservation spending to the county level. EWG says Congress should require farmers to perform more stewardship work in exchange for farm supports, and focus scattershot conservation programs on the practices with the greatest payoff in the areas with the greatest need.
How a ‘surgical’ CRP could reduce nutrient runoff
A former high-ranking USDA official, Bruce I. Knight, argues in an opinion piece on Agri-Pulse that the conservation reserve program should focus on "environmentally sensitive acreage" rather than placing high-quality croplands under CRP contracts. "When we use CRP in the conservation portfolio of tools we should use it surgically and strategically to trap and treat nutrient runoff or to provide specific habitat benefits rather than large-scale whole field enrollments," he writes.
USDA deems most of Conservation Reserve pollinator-friendly
Three of every five acres in the long-term Conservation Reserve provides "healthy habitat and forage" for honeybees and other pollinators, said USDA, as part of National Pollinator Week. Some 269,000 acres are enrolled in a program that focuses on pollinator health but a review found 15 million of the 23.4 million acres in the reserve have wildflowers, shrubs and safe nesting places conducive to pollinators, which include birds.
Will the next farm bill ‘Make CRP great again’?
The Conservation Reserve, the largest U.S. land-idling program, has shrunk to its smallest size since the late 1980s, when it was only a couple of years old. With low commodity prices forecast for years into the future, putting a pinch on farm income, economist David Widmar says a proposal to expand the reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent in exchange for retiring fragile farmland for 10 years or longer, "is likely to capture broad political appeal."
With grain prices falling, landowners rush to Conservation Reserve
USDA says it saw the strongest competition among landowners in the 30-year history of the Conservation Reserve when it held the first "general" signup in three years. There were 26,000 offers totaling 1.8 million acres to idle cropland in exchange for an annual payment.
More clashes as GMOs move into fruits and vegetables
Nearly half of U.S. cropland is planted with genetically engineered crops, say four USDA analysts, but the risk of cross-contamination of organic and non-GMO crops may rise with the approval of genetically modified apples and potatoes.
Baccam is appointed to oversee USDA farm programs
Lanon Baccam, a former assistant to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, was named as deputy agriculture undersecretary with responsibility for two agencies that deal directly with producers, the USDA announced.
Few takers for Conservation Reserve opt-out offer
Landowners removed a comparatively small 90,000 acres from the long-term Conservation Reserve under an "opt out" provision written into the 2014 farm law just as commodity prices slumped. The withdrawn land is one-third of 1 percent of total enrollment in the reserve, according to USDA data. "The preliminary estimate is that 90,000 acres were withdrawn," says the department in its most recent report on the reserve.
First Conservation Reserve signup since 2013 is set
The USDA announced the first general signup for the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent to idle fragile cropland for at least 10 years, since the 2014 farm law limited the reserve to a maximum of 24 million acres.
Groups want more USDA attention on water quality, wildlife
A rare coalition of grain processors, conservationists and clean-water groups asked the Agriculture Department to dedicate one-third of the Conservation Reserve to buffer strips, windbreaks and other practices that protect water quality and wildlife habitat.
“The wrong time to weaken crop insurance,” says Conaway
At the first House Agriculture Committee hearing of the year, chairman Mike Conaway told Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, "With commodity markets plummeting and crop producers struggling to find financing, now is precisely the wrong time to weaken crop insurance." It was the latest rebuff from the farm sector of White House proposals to reduce crop insurance spending by 17 percent through a lower premium subsidy on revenue policies that insure the price at harvest time, and by adjusting payment rates for prevented-planting claims.
U.S. aims to restore 200,000 acres for monarch butterfly
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and two conservation groups launched a campaign to save the monarch butterfly that includes restoration and enhancement of 200,000 acres of habitat.
More conservation benefits if land-idling formula is revised
The government could idle more environmentally fragile cropland if it alters its management of the Conservation Reserve to maximize the benefit achieved per dollar instead of aiming for the greatest benefit per acre, says a study by the think tank Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. Created in 1985, the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile cropland for 10 years or longer, is the largest U.S. land set-aside program ever with an annual cost of $2 billion.
USDA mulls “reverse auction” to preserve fragile land
USDA proposes use of a reverse auction to maximize the environmental benefits of targeted enrollment of land into the Conservation Reserve, according to a Federal Register notice.
Less idle land, more land for growing crops
Since 2007, enrollment in the long-term Conservation Reserve is down by 9.9 million acres; in fact, the 26.8 million acres in the reserve in 2013 was the smallest amount since 1988, writes economist David Widmar at the blog Agricultural Economic Insights.
Soil-savings from GE crops is a myth, says green group
Genetically engineered crops get undue credit for reducing soil losses on cropland, says the Environmental Working Group. In a three-page analysis, EWG says the credit really should go to so-called conservation compliance and the Conservation...
USDA boosts bee habitat, White House plans national strategy
Landowners in five states in the upper Midwest are eligible for $8 million in payments if they establish new habitat for honey bees on land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve, says USDA.
USDA opens CRP continuous enrollment, no general signup
Signup will open on Monday for the "continuous" enrollment option for the Conservation Reserve but there will be no general enrollment this year, said an Agriculture Department statement.
USDA accepts more than 1 million acres for Conservation Reserve
The USDA will accept more than 1 million acres of the land that was offered for entry into the land-idling Conservation Reserve during the recent signup for large tracts of land, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. Contracts expire on 2 million acres of land in the reserve this fall and enrollment of 23 million acres is well below the ceiling of 27 million acres.