Federal Conservation Agency Begins Statewide Sign-Up for the New Conservation Stewardship Program

Bangor, ME, August 12, 2009—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Maine has begun the continuous sign-up for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). State Conservationist Juan Hernandez has announced that the first cutoff date for ranking purposes is September 30.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) authorized the Conservation Stewardship Program. Congress renamed and revamped the former Conservation Security Program completely to improve its availability and appeal to agricultural and forestry producers. The Conservation Stewardship Program will be offered nationwide through continuous sign-ups with announced cut-off application dates for ranking periods. The maximum annual enrollment is capped at nearly 12.8 million acres nationwide.

“The program changed dramatically in the 2008 Farm Bill,” said Hernandez. “NRCS took the time to develop a program that would appeal to our diverse customers and offer them an equal chance to participate. We hope that agricultural and forestry producers in Maine take full advantage of the benefits this newly-revised program offers.”

NRCS administers CSP, a voluntary conservation program designed to encourage agricultural and forestry producers to adopt additional conservation practices and improve, maintain and manage existing ones.

To apply for the newly-revamped CSP, individual producers, legal entities and Indian tribes will first complete a self-screening checklist to determine whether the new program is suitable for them or their operation. The checklist is available at the Maine NRCS website at www.me.nrcs.usda.gov and at USDA Service Centers listed in your telephone directory under U.S. Government or on the Maine NRCS website.

Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, improved pastureland, non-industrial private forestland—a new land use for the program—and agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe.

A producer must treat at least one resource concern and one priority resource concern during the length of the CSP’s five-year contract. The three resource concerns that were chosen to be the focus of CSP delivery in Maine are Animal, Soil Quality, and Water Quality.

CSP will offer two possible types of payments—annual and supplemental. The annual payment will be established using the conservation performance estimated by a conservation measurement tool and calculated by land use type for enrolled eligible land. A supplemental payment is also available to participants who also adopt a resource-conserving crop rotation. The annual payment limitation for a person or legal entity is $40,000. A person or legal entity cannot exceed $200,000 for all contracts entered into during any five-year period.

Producers must meet the following requirements to obtain a Conservation Stewardship Program contract: be listed as the operator in the USDA farm records management system for the operation being offered for enrollment; document that they control the land for the term of the contract and include all eligible land in their entire operation in that contract; and comply with highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions and comply with Adjusted Gross Income provisions.

Land enrolled in the Conservation Security Program, Conservation Reserve Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program is ineligible for the new Conservation Stewardship Program.

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