Major changes in conservation programs on the horizon
Friendlier HEL, Wetland laws; Tighter CRP

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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association

The fundamentals of the conservation compliance program remain unchanged, but the farm bill provides more opportunity for farmers to incorporate new practices into their conservation plans, says Margie Williams, senior vice president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Williams says the improved conservation compliance program allows USDA to more fairly impose appropriate penalties. Procedures for measuring residue are improved, she says, and a grower’s overall progress in reducing erosion will be measured in the context of specific soil and climactic conditions on a farm.

And, there’s new language for expedited variances, which recognize that in some years diseases or insect infestations may be more serious than normal, and that different residue management or other techniques may be necessary for disease and pest control.

"That’s a provision we worked for which is really going to benefit the many farmers out there who have been battling scab in wheat and other crop diseases in the 1990s," says Jerry Nordick, president of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers.

New Flexibility To Mitigate Wetlands

Like conservation compliance, the fundamentals of Swampbuster remain unchanged, but new farm bill provisions provide new opportunities for landowners to manage their wetlands, says Williams. Wetland conversions can be mitigated by enhancing existing wetlands or creating new ones, unlike the original law.

More specific guidance on swamp-buster exemptions allowing conversions of certain wetlands in situations where the conversions will have a "minimal effect" on the total resource will be developed by USDA and other federal agencies. Williams says the guidance would be intended to allow use of broader "categorical" minimal effects exemptions (similar to general permits issued by the Corps of Engineers under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act), as well as individual minimal effects determinations.

Limited use of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to establish a mitigation bank for farmed wetlands was established as a pilot program in the farm bill. The program would be intended to help producers better manage farmed wetlands which could be improved for crop production. Any wetland values and functions which would be lost as a result of drainage or other manipulation could be mitigated through the bank.

CRP payments would be offered through the mitigation bank to landowners who wished to set aside wetlands to offset conversions of farmed wetlands. Farmed wetlands have generally been the most troublesome wetland type for producers because they are often highly productive, and the new mitigation bank could offer an additional means of improving production efficiency while preserving valuable wetlands.

Most Contentious: CRP

Provisions of the conservation title have yet to be made final; proposed rules were released in September, and state hearings on the conservation proposals were held in October. Nordick testified on behalf of the MAWG; Lowell Berntson, Kulm, N.D., testified on behalf of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association; and Roger Rix, Groton, S.D., testified on behalf of S.D. Wheat Inc. Public comment ended the first week of November, and final rules aren’t expected until early 1997.

The most contentious rules to be decided concern CRP. USDA has proposed new eligibility criteria and an Environmental Benefits Index to rank environmental criteria relative to cost. The new rules could prevent about half of the existing CRP acreage in Minnesota and the Dakotas from requalifying.

Wheat leaders are urging officials to give greater consideration in the rules for wildlife habitat, and that the Erodibility Index be modified to take into account both water and wind erosion.

"Whether a ton of topsoil is blown away or washed away, it’s a loss of a ton of soil either way," said Nordick, in his CRP testimony.

One way to remedy the Index criteria may be to expand or build more flexibility into the designation given to states for conservation priority areas. Wheat leaders further suggested that growers have a voice in the selection of these areas in the state, and that the state priorities reflect environmental and habitat benefits that larger tracts of land make available.

For land that does qualify for future CRP, rental rates will be important, NAWG leaders stressed. In the 13th signup, for example, county bid caps relating to soil productivity and fair market rental rates were not adequate to attract participation in wheat areas. Thus, rental rates should be competitive with average rates for tillable cropland.

NAWG Urges CRP Extension

NAWG leaders urged officials not to take lightly the fact that 24 million acres of cropland currently under CRP contract will expire in September of 1997. About half of these contracts have already been extended for one year. How the new rules will affect enrollment of wheat acres is unknown, and potentially disastrous if a significant portion of the CRP wheat base gets dumped on the market.

Thus, the NAWG urged that those contracts which have not already been extended should receive an optional one-year extension, so that land which is not re-enrolled and brought back into production can be phased in, minimizing the negative market impact of increased production.

This is especially important, since the CRP rules will not be finalized until next year, and the first general signup under the new rules will take place sometime later. About 70 percent of the total wheat base enrolled in the CRP, or 7 million acres, will expire in 1997.

"That 7 million acres represents about 10 percent of the acreage planted to wheat this year. CRP contracts on about 3 million acres which expire next year have not yet been extended beyond the original 10-year contract term. Growers should be offered the opportunity to extend contracts for an additional year," said Chuck Merja, NAWG president.

December 1995