CSP to enroll more than 400,000 acres in Minnesota
By Janet Kubat Willette
Agri News
Date Modified: 01/29/2010 4:04 PM
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ST. PAUL — Landowners who applied for the Conservation Stewardship Program should be watching their mailboxes.
Letters have been mailed to landowners who qualify for enrollment, said Paul Flynn, Minnesota state resource conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
In Minnesota, about 60 percent of landowners who went through the application process were accepted for enrollment in CSP during the pilot signup, Flynn said. Roughly 750 applications of the about 1,300 submitted were approved, he said.
The next step is for landowners to decide if they want to proceed and sign a contract. The contracts begin when signed, but payments won't be issued until October. Contracts are for five years.
The national payment rate for cropland is 6.5 cents per performance point. It's 3 cents per performance point for pasture and 1.6 cents per performance point for forest land.
Each application is ranked and scored and the payment rate is determined by multiplying the score by the cents per point by the number of acres.
For example, 500 points is an average score for an application for cropland in Minnesota, Flynn said. A landowner would be paid about $30 per acre based on the formula. The cap per landowner is $40,000 and a few will approach that limit in Minnesota. The program is expected to bring $9.6 million to approved Minnesota participants this fall.
"It is a significant program," Flynn said.
In exchange for that payment, the landowner agrees to continue to apply the conservation already in place, plus add additional actions agreed to in the contract. The additional practice must be implemented within the first three years of the contract and maintained in the last two years, he said.
The Conservation Stewardship Program attempts to recognize landowners who are practicing conservation, while at the same time motivating them to do more, Flynn said
A landowner can't be paid on more than one program on the same land at the same time, so land enrolled in the Wetland Reserve Program or Conservation Reserve Program for example, doesn't qualify to receive CSP payments. However, a farmer can access government funds to address a concern, but they won't be paid on that acreage. CSP payments do not conflict with Farm Service Agency payments.
Minnesota will enroll more than 400,000 acres in the CSP during this initial signup, which is more than the initial allocation, Flynn said. Some states had limited interest and couldn't fill their allotted acres, so the acreage was moved to states, including Minnesota, with more interest from landowners. The goal is to enroll 12.7 million acres each year nationally.
Landowners may inquire about the Conservation Stewardship Program at their NRCS office at any time. A signup is anticipated for sometime next summer.
The goal for the pilot signup is to get all contracts signed by the end of this month or early February.
Landowners began signing up in August and September.