CREP sign-up slower than expected

By Carol Ryan Dumas, Ag Weekly editor
Friday, January 19, 2007 5:31 PM CST

Sherrie Brooks of Farm Service Agency speaks to producers about CREP at the Farwest Fertilizer & Chemical Conference.

JACKPOT, Nev. n More than 500 individual farmers initially indicated interest in a program designed to take land out of production and conserve water in the Snake River system, but farmers are slower to enroll than officials expected.

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program has been heralded as a proactive way to conserve water in the Gem State where water issues are mounting. The $258 million plan, inked in 2006 by the state of Idaho and the federal government with the blessing of Congress, attempts to take up to 100,000 acres n and 200,00 acre-feet of water n out of crop production. So far, less than half that amount has been offered and less than 13,000 acres have been accepted.

But “40,000 acres are in the mill, and we fully expect to get our full 100,000 (acres),” said Ron Abbott, farm program chief with USDA Farm Service Agency in Boise.

CREP falls under the umbrella of the Conservation Reserve Program but differs from the general CRP in that it is able to pay farmers based on irrigated rates per acre. One of the requirements of CREP is that only irrigated cropland is eligible. In the contract, farmers would agree to fallow their land for 14 to 15 years but would still own their water rights. The program, in turn, would pay farmers an annual per-acre payment.

Sign-up began May 30 of last year, and USDA’s Farm Service Agency has registered about 40,000 acres into the program. Of that, 40,000 acres, 12,500 have been approved, FSA conservation specialist Sherrie Brooks told producers at the Far West Agribusiness Association Fertilizer & Chemical Conference here on Jan. 8. Once farmland has been approved for the program, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission will complete the plans.

Brooks kept her presentation to the facts of the program and didn’t speak of the complicated issues surrounding Idaho water at present, but did say the land must be physically and legally capable of being farmed. Therefore, if a producer hasn’t registered for the program and finds himself in a water call, pending a Supreme Court ruling concerning the constitutionality of IDWR’s conjunctive management rules, he’d be out of luck. Without water to farm the land, it is not considered physically capable of being farmed.

“That’s why that Supreme Court thing is so important,” Abbott said. “If it goes against junior water-right holders … they will, in effect, not have a water right.”

A producer who signed up while his water right was still viable, however, would be allowed to participate even if there were a water call on his right in the future, Abbott added.

Growers have until Dec. 31, 2007, to sign up for the program. The first program year began Oct. 1. Growers signing up after that start date will receive a pro-rated payment for the first year.

Growers participating in the program will receive an annual payment of $114 to $134 per acre per year for 14 to 15 years, she said. Payments should be received by growers between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10 each year. In addition to the annual payments, FSA will provide cost-share funding up to 50 percent to establish the program. There is also a possible one-time incentive payment of $30 an acre from the state and a $100 signing incentive from the federal government.

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