By Patricia Paul

Public Affairs Specialist
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Virginia

5.06.2008-

When Congress passed the 2002 Farm Bill, it included the revolutionary Conservation Security Program (CSP), a new program designed to reward producers who are meeting the highest standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations.
This program administered by NRCS, provides many environmental benefits including helping improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2007 alone, nearly $10 million in CSP payments went to farmers within the Bay watershed for their conservation work.
CSP is offered nationwide on a rotational basis in as many watersheds as funding allows. This year, farmers with land in the Great Wicomico-Piankatank watershed (Virginia), the Gunpowder-Patapsco Watershed (Maryland) and the northern portion of the Broadkill Smyrna Watershed (Delaware), are invited to apply for CSP.
With the 2008 CSP sign up under way through May 16, farmers are interested in knowing how they can qualify for the higher payment levels. CSP payments are awarded at Tier I, Tier II and Tier III levels with more money going to those reaching each successive level.
Lands that are eligible include cropland, orchards, vineyards, hayland and pastureland. To qualify for CSP, farmers must maintain current conservation practices that are appropriate for their lands and provide documentation of their stewardship work.
CSP payments can include three components: 1) an annual stewardship payment for the base level of conservation treatment, 2) an annual payment for maintenance of existing conservation practices, and 3) an enhancement payment for exceptional conservation efforts.
Dan Solomon, CSP program manager in Virginia, says that the major factors influencing payments are the number of acres enrolled and enhancements.
“Obviously, the more land you enter into the program, the larger your payments will be,” he says. “However, you can also significantly increase your payments by including enhancements in your contract. These are additional conservation practices that are targeted to specific resource concerns. For example, enhancement activities can include safer pesticide applications, renewable energy generation and widening existing riparian forest buffers to restore critical stream habitat. Enhancements can be activities that farmers are already doing or activities that they adopt during the contract period. Either way a payment is included in the CSP contract.
“Some Virginia farmers enrolled in the program are adding new wildlife habitat to their farms. Those practices can include planting native grasses, fencing off wetlands and wooded areas, adding winter cover to cropland or adding grassed field borders. Farmers are also adopting crop scouting for pest management, additional nutrient management practices and increasing the amount of no till in their crop rotations.”
To apply for CSP, NRCS asks potential participants to complete a CSP self-assessment workbook – available on the Web or from local NRCS offices – to find out if their operation meets the requirements of the program and qualifies for program participation.
The self-assessment process is completed using a self-screening questionnaire for each land use to be enrolled. When this process is completed, the producer submits the CSP workbook to the local NRCS office during the sign-up period and meets with NRCS personnel to go over any additional needed documentation.
NRCS will then determine if eligibility requirements are met and provide options for the producer’s decision on enrollment category placement.
NRCS held the first CSP sign-up in 2004.
This announcement brings the number of watersheds enrolled to 331 across the nation, covering 247.7 million acres that have been eligible for the program.
Information on CSP and a self-assessment workbook, are available online at www.va.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp.
Farmers may also call or visit their local USDA service center; locations are listed online at http://offices.usda.gov or in the phone book under Federal Government, USDA.