SD Economy and Environment Bolstered by Renewal of C. S. P.
Monday, July 2, 2007
A Midwest based farm group is giving a thumbs up to Congress for approving a supplemental budget bill that restores funding for the Conservation Security Program. Tracie Bruckner with the Center for Rural Affairs says the program rewards farmers in selected watersheds who practice and promote conservation. She says the restored funding will open the program to South Dakota farmers and ranchers for new enrollments this year.
“We think the CSP is really important for small and mid-sized sustainable family farmers and ranchers because it focuses on what they're doing out there and rewarding them for that rather than focusing them on how much they produce and how many acres they produce it. It's taking policy in a direction where it's making the natural resources a commodity that everyone should be able to enjoy, and we think it's a win-win all around.”
Bruckner adds that the restored funding will also allow farmers and ranchers currently in the program to modify their contracts to include additional conservation measures.
“This one focuses on rewarding those farmers and ranchers who have already been doing this. It also provides them the incentive to add additional conservation. It's not only rewarding them for protected water and better soil management, improved habitat, it's also encouraging them to add additional practices that make that even better.”
Bruckner says 196 South Dakota farms are enrolled in the Conservation Security Program with $1.9 million in payments on more than 23,000 acres. The program was created in the 2002 Farm Bill and is up for reauthorization in the 2007 Farm Bill, which is currently being debated in Congress.
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