To the Editor:
(March 2013) Farmers and ranchers will again have the opportunity to apply for the Conservation Stewardship Program, which rewards producers for conservation practices on working lands, thanks to passage of legislation that replaces the funding for 2013 CSP enrollment that was accidently cut off in the government spending bill that passed last October.
This legislation removes the remaining obstacles to farmers and ranchers having the opportunity to enroll in CSP this year. It is a welcome move by Congress to address this oversight because there are farmers and ranchers who have been waiting to sign up for this program and each year there are twice as many, or more, applying than can receive contracts under available funding.
USDA can now proceed with enrolling just over 11 million acres of farm and ranch land in the program this year, bringing the program to a grand total of 62 million acres by year’s end. The funding error was fixed by a bill that would provide continuing funding for the federal government for the next six months – the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year.
The Senate passed the bill on a 73 to 26 vote March 20, followed by passage in the House of Representatives March 21 by a vote of 318 to 109.
We’ve pressed for this result since last October when the first government funding bill accidentally shut off CSP enrollment for 2013, so we want to celebrate this, and we’re going to continue working with farmers and ranchers who want to apply to the program.
I encourage potential applicants to move forward now, before planting season is underway and many become too busy in the field to get away. While CSP is a continuous signup program and producers can apply to enroll at any time of the year, USDA applies a cut-off date for applications to be considered during a particular fiscal year. Once the cut-off date is past, producers may continue to apply for the program, but they will not be considered for entry until the spring of the following year, in this case spring 2014.
We know the previous sign-ups have yielded some great success stories for farmers and ranchers, but also some disappointments and frustrations. That’s why we want farmers, ranchers and others to call with questions about the application process and to share their experiences, both positive and negative.
While the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service has yet to decide on a deadline for farmer and rancher applications, there is speculation it will likely be in May. That short timeline should provide further motivation for farmers and ranchers to visit their local NRCS office now and start the application process right away.
CSP is one of the most popular conservation programs at NRCS, enrolling nearly 39,000 farmers and ranchers operating 50 million acres of farm and ranch land under five-year CSP conservation contracts worth $3.5 billion.
For more information, visit your local NRCS service center at offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?agency=nrcs.
Traci Bruckner, Center for Rural Affairs