NEW ULM, MN — Whether or not the Bush Administration is successful in cutting crop production subsidies, Minnesota farmers should begin to focus on the Conservation Security Program and the opportunity to earn dollars for their conservation efforts. A signup period will be announced very soon.

Of the 81 watersheds in Minnesota, the five watersheds of the Root, Sauk, Redeye, Redwood and Red Lake rivers covering portions of 26 counties are included in the 2005 CSP sign-up. This sign-up is expected to occur in March and last about six weeks. Farmers in these five watersheds need to act now to complete a self assessment of their farm.

Farmers in the remaining 76 watersheds will be eligible on a rotating basis over the next eight years. This does not mean that farmers in the remaining 76 watershed should “sit and wait” for their opportunity.

“The Conservation Security Program is unique, in that it is not an environmental fix-it-up program or a production subsidy program,” said Tim Gieseke, Minnesota Project policy specialist. “It is designed to reward farmers who have been practicing conservation on working lands for at least two years prior to the signup. This means that those farmers not in the 2005 sign-up should make sure their cropping records are in order, and possibly add conservation practices through other conservation programs to increase their eligibility for CSP when it becomes available in their watershed.”

In 2004, farmers in the Blue Earth River Watershed in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa were eligible to enroll. CSP contracts averaged from $10,000 to $20,000 per year with the length of contracts being between five and ten years. Farmers were able to enroll in one of three tiers, with Tier III contracts paying as much as $40 an acre, up to a cap of $45,000 per year per farming operation. Final rules and payment rates are not yet completed for the 2005 sign-up, but it is anticipated that rates will be comparable.

The minimum requirements to be accepted into the CSP include having a pest management plan, a nutrient management plan following University of Minnesota nutrient recommendations, and a positive Soil Conditioning Index, an indicator of soil health. Meeting these base conservation measures establishes a “stewardship payment” on a per acre basis.

Said Gieseke, “A major difference between the crop subsidies and the CSP payments is that farmers across the nation compete to earn conservation dollars under the CSP, but what they choose to produce is up to them. Farmers who are successful in earning CSP dollars are still eligible for crop subsidy payments and other conservation cost-share programs.”

Farmers interested in developing a CSP plan should contact their local NRCS office.