The Conservatio
n Reserve
Program (CRP) general sign-up began Jan. 18 and will run
through Feb. 11 in local U.S. Department of
Agriculture service centers.

“This is an opportunity for farmers and landowners to
participate in a
cost-effective, voluntary program to improve their land, water
and wildlife
resources,” said Dan Glickman, U.S. secretary of
agriculture.

“They can lock in a multiyear payment based on local
rental rates,” Glickman
said. “Participants with contracts expiring this fall can
also make new contract
offers.”

Improving Natural
Resources

The CRP is designed to improve the nation’s natural resource
base. Participants enroll
environmentally sensitive land in long-term contracts with the
USDA. They get annual
rental payments and a single, up-front payment of up to half
the cost of establishing
conservation practices.

The program protects millions of acres of U.S. topsoil from
erosion. By reducing water
runoff and sedimentation, it also protects groundwater and
helps improve lakes, rivers,
ponds and streams.

Acreage enrolled in the CRP is planted to
resource-conserving covers (like trees or
grass). This greatly increases wildlife populations in many
parts of the country.

Environmental Benefits
Index

The USDA will evaluate and rank eligible CRP offers using an

Environmental Benefits
Index. The EBI is based on the potential environmental
benefits gained from enrolling
the land in the CRP. Decisions on the EBI cutoff will be made
after sign-up ends.

The Farm
Service Agency is
authorized to maintain CRP enrollment up to 36.4 million acres.
About 31.5 million acres
were enrolled in CRP contracts as of Oct. 1, 1999.

About 400,000 acres are subject to CRP contracts that will
expire on Sept. 30,
2000. The contracts awarded will become effective Oct. 1,
2000.

Continuous Sign-up
Program

But landowners can avoid the highly competitive EBI under
the general sign-up, said
Bill Thomas, an economist with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
They can enroll the most environmentally sensitive land under
CRP’s continuous sign-up
program.

“Under the continuous sign-up, relatively small amounts
of land can be enrolled at
any time if they protect much larger areas, such as filter
strips, riparian buffers and
grass waterways,” Thomas said.

For more information, visit your USDA service
center. Or ask your county Extension
Service agent.