Sunday, July 06, 2008

LINCOLN, Neb. - With over 1,100 farms in the Middle Republican watershed in south central Nebraska, “steady” would be how a Natural Resources Conservation Service official describes the number of applications coming in to area offices for the current Conservation Security Program sign-up.

“Steady is the in-flow of applications, and we encourage more farmers to consider the pluses of signing up for the Conservation Security Program,” said Steve Chick, NRCS State Conservationist.

CSP is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private, agricultural working lands and financially rewards producers who are meeting the highest standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations.  Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer recently announced the program sign-up, which started April 18 and will continue through May 16. 

“We recognize this is a tough time for farmers to complete paperwork, but maybe these rainy days will provide that time, and those no-till planting folks should be OK.  We just don’t want folks to miss the opportunity,” said Chick.

The CSP sign up is in the Middle Republican watershed, which includes portions of Franklin, Harlan, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps, Thayer and Webster counties in Nebraska.  The sign up area also includes portions of Jewell, Phillips, Smith and Republic counties in north central Kansas. 

“CSP is a program that seeks out producers who are already applying conservation practices on their land.  It works with landowners to reward them for their good past efforts and provides incentives to move to the next level of natural resource conservation.  The more conservation enhancements applied to the land, the bigger the incentive payment,” Chick said.

Incentive payments can include three components: 1) an annual stewardship component for the base level of conservation treatment, 2) an annual component for maintenance of existing conservation practices, and 3) an enhancement component for exceptional conservation effort. Enhancement activities include pesticide spraying overlap reductions, renewable energy generation, widening existing riparian forest buffers for restoring critical stream habitat and much more.

To apply for CSP, NRCS asks potential participants to complete a CSP self-assessment workbook - now available at local NRCS offices or on-line.  When completed, the producer submits the CSP workbook to the local NRCS office during the sign-up period and meets with NRCS personnel to go over any needed documentation. NRCS will then determine if eligibility requirements are met and provide options for the producer's decision on enrollment category placement.

Additional information on CSP, including eligible watershed maps and the CSP self-assessment workbook, is available at local NRCS offices within the Middle Republican watershed sign up area or at www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov.