CRP marks 25 years
County has 9,000-plus acres enrolled in conservation programWORTHINGTON — In an effort to stem the tide of dropping commodity prices in the early 1980s, the federal government adopted several key programs in the 1985 Farm Bill that helped change the course of agriculture in the latter part of the 20th century.
By: Julie Buntjer, Worthington Daily Globe
- CRP
WORTHINGTON — In an effort to stem the tide of dropping commodity prices in the early 1980s, the federal government adopted several key programs in the 1985 Farm Bill that helped change the course of agriculture in the latter part of the 20th century.
Newly created programs like Sodbuster and Swampbuster discouraged farmers from converting highly erodible soils and wetlands into crop production, but it was the Conservation Reserve Program that had staying power with its initial two-prong approach — to reduce crop acreage and keep environmentally-sensitive lands out of production.
This year, the Conservation Reserve Program — known by its acronym, CRP — celebrates its 25th year in existence. In Nobles County, the program is credited with keeping more than 9,000 acres of highly erodible land out of production. Its practices, which include filter strips along water courses and tree practices like farmstead and field shelterbelts, have been credited with reducing soil erosion, improving water quality and benefitting wildlife habitat.
Ron McCarvel, Nobles County Farm Service Agency director, said acreage reduction was one of the key focuses of CRP when it was first introduced to farmers. By taking land out of production, the hope was that the glut of commodity supplies would decline and create a rebound in prices as a result.
“The producers gave up base acres to enroll in CRP,” McCarvel said.
A decade later, with prices back into a profitable range, the CRP portion of the Farm Bill was altered to reflect the changing economy. Farmers were no longer required to reduce crop acres to enroll in CRP, and the Freedom to Farm era was born.
“As time has marched on, CRP has dramatically changed in our area — it’s become more of a conservation program,” McCarvel said. “It relates more to conservation than to the production-supply management-type program.”
In Nobles County, CRP has been most popular in townships to the west of Worthington — areas around Leota and Lismore that have a more rolling terrain. Bigelow Township also has more CRP enrollment — especially in areas around Lake Ocheda and Lake Bella where there are numerous areas designated for wildlife habitat.
“In general, our acres haven’t changed a whole lot over the years,” McCarvel said. “We initially had quite a few acres in CRP. The acres have changed, but the total acreage hasn’t changed that much.”
These days, crop producers are more precise in designating CRP acres. McCarvel said he sees more land being put in filter strips as a CRP practice and fewer “whole field” approaches to conservation.
“Twenty-five years ago, (practices) were mostly … erosion control on highly erodible land,” he said. “Now, what we’re seeing is some of those areas have shrunken, and we’re seeing more continuous practices again like filter strips.”
Sign-up options
The Farm Service Agency offers two different types of sign-up options for the CRP program. There’s the Continuous CRP sign-up, which a producer can enroll in year-round.
This type is open to producers planning to install waterways or filter strips, and the landowners are required to install the practice within six months after enrollment. Practices must be installed after the crop has been removed in the fall of the year.
The General CRP sign-up was last offered to producers in 2010, and is made available to those who want to do projects on land that is not as environmentally sensitive as land that qualifies for the continuous CRP sign-up.
“(Projects in general sign-up) don’t improve water quality — they may improve air quality or wildlife habitat,” McCarvel said.
Not everyone who wants to enroll in a general CRP sign-up is awarded a contract. Applications are ranked based on criteria, and applications from Minnesota producers go up against applications from all other states.
Clyde Scheevel, Conservation Program Technician with the Nobles County FSA, said the most common project to be funded in a General CRP sign-up is the CP2, a project that involves planting native grasses and forbs (native flowers) on highly erodible land.
“In most of the contracts in our area, producers have gone to continuous CRP sign-up,” McCarvel said.
All CRP contracts can be enrolled for up to 15 years, with an option to re-enroll. Contracts run on the fiscal year, which is Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
Through CRP, landowners can also enroll in SAFE (State Acres For wildlife Enhancement) — also known as the Back 40 program. The purpose of SAFE is to create habitat for pheasants, quail and other birds by establishing grassed areas on marginal lands. In Nobles County, approximately 140 acres are enrolled in SAFE and 8,926 acres are enrolled in continuous and general CRP, for a total of 9,066 acres in CRP programs. Those acres are divided among 896 producer contracts.
With commodity prices higher than they’ve ever been, McCarvel said the CRP program is a tough sell these days for producers. Still, he isn’t seeing a huge amount of conservation acres being put back into production.
“In general, we’ve probably seen a slight decrease in acres,” he said. “We’re seeing less acres than probably would have been (enrolled with) $3 corn and $5 to $7 beans.”
Partnerships abound
CRP has been a good option for landowners with highly erodible land ever since it was introduced, and through partnerships with other programs and agencies, it remains attractive to producers.
Local watershed districts have partnered with the Farm Service Agency to provide additional per-acre incentives for installation of CRP filter strips along streams and lakeshores, as well as buffer zones around wetlands restored through CRP.
McCarvel said the Farm Service Agency has also partnered with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and organizations including Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited to make the program more appealing to landowners.
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