CRP Sign-Up Begins Later This Month

January 3, 2000

The 20^th sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program begins Jan. 18 and ends Feb. 11. This is the fourth general CRP sign-up since the 1996 farm law was enacted. All eligible offers will continue to be evaluated and ranked according to an environmental benefits index (EBI).

Annual rental payments are made under the CRP based on the agriculture rental value of the land, and cost-share assistance is provided equal to not more than 50% of the participant's costs in establishing approved practices. Contracts last from 10-15 years.

To be eligible for the CRP, land must be planted or considered planted to an agricultural commodity in two of the five crop years from 1995-99. It also must be physically and legally capable of being planted in a normal manner to an agricultural commodity. Certain marginal pasture land enrolled in the Water Bank Program also may be eligible.

At least one of five additional conditions must be met:

--The land may be considered highly erodible according to the conservation compliance provision or, if a portion of a field is being offered, it must have a weighted average erosion index of eight or higher;

--It also may be considered a cropped wetland;

-- It also may be subject to scour erosion;

-- It may be located in a national or state CRP conservation priority area, or

-- It may be crop land associated with non-cropped wetlands.

The EBI used in this sign-up is similar to that for the 18^th sign-up except that the federal or state-listed threatened or endangered species sub-factor of the wildlife habitat component has been strengthened and clarified. In some states water quality area designations have been modified, and a few additional state conservation priority areas may have been approved.

USDA maintains that using the EBI ensures that only the most environmentally sensitive lands are selected and that all offers are considered fairly and equitably. Data are collected for each of the EBI factors based on the relative environmental benefits for the land offered. Offers then are ranked in comparison to all other offers, and selections are made from that ranking.

EBI factors are wildlife habitat benefits; water quality benefits from reduced erosion, runoff and leaching; on-farm benefits of reduced erosion; "enduring" benefits; air quality benefits from reduced wind erosion and benefits of enrollment in conservation priority areas where enrollment would contribute to the improvement of identified adverse water quality, wildlife habitat or air quality, and cost.

Maximum payments will be determined based on the average of the past three years of local dryland cash or cash-rent equivalent rental rates adjusted for site-specific, soil-based productivity factors.

CRP payments may include an additional amount of up to $5 an area a year as an incentive to perform certain maintenance obligations. The maximum payments rate for each offer is calculated in advance of enrollment. Producers may offer land at that rate or at a lower rate to increase the likelihood that their offers will be accepted.

A producer must have owned or operated the land for at least 12 months prior to close of the sign-up period unless:

-- The new owner acquired the land from the death of the previous owner;

-- The ownership change occurred due to foreclosure where the owner exercised a timely right or redemption in accordance with state law, or

-- The circumstances of the acquisition provide adequate assurance to the Farm Service Agency that the new owner did not acquire the land for the purpose of placing it in the CRP.

A fact sheet on the 20^th sign-up is available on the Internet at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/crp20.pdf.

A fact sheet on the EBI is available athttp://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/ebiold.pdf.