forward by Jim Williams Begin forwarded message:
From: "Paul J. Baicich" <paul.baic...@verizon.net> Date: April 25, 2008 6:30:36 AM CDT Subject: Fwd: MN - CRP > High prices lure farmers from conservation program > by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio > April 21, 2008 > Listen to feature audio > > Minnesota could soon lose up to 25 percent of the land currently > set aside > in programs to protect water and wildlife. Thanks to government > subsidies > for ethanol and high corn and soybean prices, farmers are turning > more land > over to grains. > > St. Paul, Minn. ? Conservation programs began during the farmm > crisis of the > 1980s less as a way to protect the environment and more as a way to > get > money into the rural economy. > > The federal Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to take > marginal land > out of production. Farmers sign a contract, promising not to plow > the land > for 10 to 15 years. They plant native grasses, or allow trees to > grow up. > > About two million acres in Minnesota are managed for conservation. > But many > of those contracts will expire in the next few years. As much as > 600,000 > acres could leave the conservation program and go back to cropland. > > Conservation improves water quality and provides habitat for > wildlife, says > Kevin Lines, conservation easement manager for the Minnesota Board of > Water and Soil Resources. Many projects restore wetlands. > > "A healthy wetland...removes nitrates, removes phosphorus, keeps > the water > clean flowing into our lakes and rivers. These things provide the > public > with a huge number of benefits that are difficult to put a cost on > or a > benefit factor on." > > In the late 1990s, Minnesota used federal and state money to convert > 100,000 acres in the Minnesota River watershed into conservation > land. The > effect was to make the river a little cleaner by preventing > pesticides and > fertilizer from running in. > > Back then, corn and soybean prices were low. > > By last June, Lines' goal was to add another 120,000 acres to the > reserve > program. But farmers would only commit to 8,000 acres. > > Lines is frustrated, but he understands their decisions. > > "The landowner has to make a living today, they want to send their > kids to > college tomorrow, so programs have to be competitive. We can't get all > these public benefits from private landowners without some cost to > society." > > It's not just grain prices going up; the value of land is > increasing. And > farmers say the conservation programs don't offer them enough to > set their > land aside. > > Two years ago Bill Grimm, who raises corn, soybeans and hogs in > Renville > County in southwestern Minnesota, signed up to put about 30 acres of > steeply rolling land into conservation reserve. > > But before he got around to planting the wild grass seed, things > changed. > > "During that winter of '06 and '07 the commodity prices > substantially went > up, and being I hadn't seeded it yet, there was an option to opt > out, and I > went ahead and did that. There was a small penalty I guess to do > that, but > with the commodity prices, I figured I'd be better off farming it." > > Even with reduced yields during a dry year, Grimm made about $300 > an acre > profit after expenses. The conservation program would have paid > just over > $100 an acre. > > Not everybody is opting out. Guste Blad, who farms in Renville and > Kandiyohi Counties put about 100 acres of his 1000 acre operation in > reserve. He likes having pheasants and deer around, and he likes > keeping > his soil on the land and out of the drainage ditch. "And the > dollars -- it > pays quite well for land that maybe isn't as good, up next to the > ditch > bank is lot of clay, so the land isn't as productive as it would be > out in > the middle of field. I think dollar for dollar it's a good > investment." > > Renville County is a top agricultural producer, and also has more > land in > conservation than any other county. > > Tom Kalahar, with the Soil and Water Conservation District in Renville > County, is worried that if Minnesota loses a lot of conservation > acres, the > state could face a water quality disaster. > > "We bring all that marginal, fragile farm land back into crop > production, > and corn crop production which is very agriculturally intense as > far as > pesticides, and fertilizers, and erosion-prone, I mean that's why > it was in > the program in the first place. We bring all that back into crop > production > and we're going go backwards very, very, very fast." > > State officials estimate only a third of farmland along water > bodies is > managed for conservation. > > That means there's a lot of potential to preserve sensitive lands. One > federal agriculture official says those are the lands that newer > conservation programs will target