Conservation Stewardship Program
Coalition asks for farm bill rule: Practice stewardship to get U.S. benefits
The 2014 farm law reforged the link between federally subsidized crop insurance and land stewardship. With the 2018 farm bill on the legislative horizon, two dozen farm, wildlife, environmental, and conservation groups urged Congress to “maintain existing conservation compliance requirements as a prerequisite to receiving crop insurance, conservation and commodity program subsidies, and other farm bill benefits.”
Stewardship should be farm bill requirement, says small-farm group
When Congress writes the 2018 farm bill, lawmakers should retain the requirement for producers to practice land stewardship if they want coverage under the federally subsidized crop insurance system, said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. In The Hill newspaper, NSAC policy specialist Alyssa Charney also called for stronger enforcement of the so-called conservation compliance rules.
Hunters call for 66 percent expansion of Conservation Reserve
The Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile cropland, should be expanded to 40 million acres from its current 24 million acres, said Pheasants Forever, a hunting and wildlife habitat group, at the first congressional subcommittee hearing for the 2018 farm bill. Land stewardship and farm groups urged larger funding for two USDA programs aimed at working lands.
Farm-bill coalition asks Congress, don’t cut us now, don’t cut us later
More than 500 groups across the farm, agribusiness, anti-hunger, rural-development and land-stewardship spectrum asked lawmakers in a letter to exempt farm-bill programs from spending cuts this year or next. Often called the farm-bill coalition, the groups said it would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for Congress to enact the 2018 farm bill if funding is cut from current levels.
Enrollment for revamped green-payment program opens in a week
The USDA will open a three-month enrollment period on Nov. 14 for the Conservation Stewardship Program, which pays farmers and ranchers for making soil, water and wildlife conservation a part of their daily operations. A small-farm group says producers should submit an initial application if they're interested in the program, but it says USDA has yet to fully describe its changes to CSP.
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.
House panel would delay menu labels to late 2017, or beyond
The House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA and FDA is writing its own guarantee of a gradual transition to calorie counts on menus a restaurants, carry-outs, stores and fast-food stands. It included a rider, Section 735, in its USDA-FDA funding bill saying enforcement cannot occur until a year after Dec. 1, 2016, or a year after the FDA issues the final rule on menu labels.
USDA allows one more month for yield and acre updates
Farmers have an additional month, until March 31, to tell the USDA if they want to update their yield and acreage "bases" for crop subsidies. Operators also face a March 31 deadline to select a crop subsidy program - either the shallow-loss Agriculture Risk Coverage or the traditionally structured Price Loss Coverage - for the life of the 2014 farm law. The department announced "a one-time extension" on Friday, the previous yield-and-base deadline; the decision period opened on Sept. 29, 2014.
A quarter of farmers make subsidy choice as deadline nears
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he would provide "flexibility" if needed to assure orderly handling of two important farm program deadlines. Growers have until Friday to tell the USDA whether they want to update two factors for calculating crop subsidies - average yields and acreage bases. And they have until March 31 to select either the insurance-like Agricultural Risk Coverage subsidy or the traditionally designed Price Loss Coverage subsidy.
USDA extends enrollment for green payments by two weeks
Farmers and ranchers have two additional weeks to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program, which pays producers for practicing conservation on working lands. The deadline for applications initially was set for Friday but now will be March 13, says the Natural Resources Conservation Service. An official announcement will be made this morning.
USDA conservation program “misses the mark”-farm groups
The biggest USDA conservation program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, slights ongoing work by farmers in favor of operators who are new to the program or agree to take on additional land, water and wildlife work, say two small-farm groups.
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.
USDA retools its working-lands conservation program
The Agriculture Department unveiled revisions in the Conservation Stewardship Program to reflect the directions of the 2014 farm law and invited public comments on its proposals.
USDA to offer a renewal of CSP contracts
Landowners enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program, which pays farmers to practice soil, water and wildlife conservation as part of their daily operations, will have two months to apply for a renewal of their contract, says a USDA bulletin.
Claim: USDA’s ‘incredibly shrinking’ conservation program a warning about the farm bill
Congress has voted repeatedly to constrain spending under the Conservation Stewardship Program, created to pay farmers to make soil and water conservation a part of their daily operations. University of Illinois associate professor Jonathan Coppess, writing at the farmdoc daily blog, said the "incredible shrinking of CSP ... may also serve as a warning" about stewardship funding in the 2023 farm bill.