Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in North Dakota

Abilio Soares

What is Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

A Conservation program under United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Technical assistance is from USDA Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Farmer remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production in exchange for annual rental payment The objective is to improve environmental health and quality Up to 10 15 years

History of CRP
Originally started in1950s as the conservation branch of the Soil Bank Program. The focus was on marginal lands.

CRP became law in 1980s due to farming practice in 1970s

Fence row to fence row Removing native habitat and vegetative stands from the fields

1985 Farm Bill that officially established the CRP as we know today
Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in Dec 23rd, 1985

Eligible Land
Highly erodible land

Located in national or state CRP conservation priority areas

Included in an expiring CRP contract Considered cropped wetland, or associated with surrounding non-cropped wetlands Devoted to highly beneficial environmental practice (e.g., wetland restoration, streamside buffers, or conservation buffers)

CRP land selection

Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) score EBI indicates the perceived conservation value of an applicants land. The EBI system did not exist until 1991 The EBI is always reformulated based on current conservation priorities After 2008 Farm Bill, EBI based on the projected benefits to wildlife, water quality, erosion control, and air quality EBI also considers the predicted longevity of environmental benefits beyond the contract period

EBI Scoring
Wildlife Factor Benefit: 0 to 100 points Water Quality Benefits: 0 to 100 points Erosion Factor: 0 to 100 points Enduring Benefits Factor: 0 to 50 points Air Quality Benefits: 0 to 45 points Cost: 0 to 35 points

CRP Funding and Payment

Entirely Federally funded
Through the Commodity Credit Corporation of the USDA Payment to farmers is greater than the technical assistance CRP rental rates are determined at the county level based on the relative productivity of the soil Rental rates are fixed and may not be renegotiated

eofdreams.com

Benefit of CRP
Foster Wildlife (for example)
Prairie Pothole Ducks: 2 million / year increase in duck population in North Dakota, South Dakota and Northeastern Montana (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Study) Ringed-necked Pheasants 22% increase in pheasant count associated with 4% increase in CRP herbaceous vegetation (Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc., study) Northern Bobwhite Quail increase northern bobwhite quail (Mississippi State University Study

http://www.ducks.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.allaboutbirds.org

Benefit of CRP
Improves Water Quality Less nitrogen and phosphorus left in the field

Million pounds of nitrogen phosphorus were intercepted by CRP buffers.

Amount of sediment released into the environment is reduced.

Reduce salinity of water better habitat for fish

For example Salmon in Cottonwood Flats

http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com

Benefit of CRP
Improves Soil Quality CRP reduces sheet, rill and wind erosion In 2007, CRP managed to reduce soil erosion by an estimated 470 million tons from pre-CRP levels.

http://intechweb.wordpress.com

Benefit of CRP
CRP Sequesters Carbon CRP sequesters more carbon on private lands than any other federally administered program.

In 2007, grass cover planted under CRP helped stop more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the environment.
Carbon sequestration helps offset the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.

dapa.ciat.cgiar.org

Benefit of CRP
Economic Benefit to Farmers and Community

Enables Families to Remain on the Farm (esp. during the drought years)
Income from tourism on CRP land. CRP lands bring in hunters who spend $470,000 annually on local lodging, rental cars, food, and gun supplies. CRP is "Care Reaps Products" for young farmers Mississippi

Highlights of CRP so far

Prevents the erosion of 450 million tons of soil each year Restored more than two million acres of wetlands and two million acres of riparian buffers; Protected 2 million acres of stream bank along rivers and streams

Enhance wildlife populations

www.ownerfinancedland.com

en.wikipedia.org

https://gfp.sd.gov/wildlife

Highlights of CRP so far

Keeps more than 600 million pounds of nitrogen and more than 100 million pounds of phosphorous each year from flowing into our nations streams, rivers, and lakes; Provides $1.8 billion annually to landowners; Carbon sequestration in 2010 is equal to taking almost 10 million cars off the road Reduces both fuel and fertilizer usage. 450 million tons of soil erosion reduced annually

2008 Farm Bill

Total CRP acreage cap was lowered from 39.2 million acres to 32 million acres For North Dakota alone, CRP acreage dropped from 3.4 million to 1.7 million acres Land eligibility requirement was modified Include a new local preference criterion in the ranking criteria Allow certain commercial uses of CRP land

CRP Enrollment
10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000 35,000,000

40,000,000

5,000,000

0 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

1995

1996
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

U.S CRP Enrollment

2015

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

50,000

ALABAMA ALASKA ARKANSAS CALIFORNIA COLORADO CONNECTICUT DELAWARE FLORIDA GEORGIA IDAHO ILLINOIS INDIANA IOWA KANSAS KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MAINE MARYLAND MASSACHUSETTS MICHIGAN MINNESOTA MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI MONTANA NEBRASKA NEW JERSEY NEW MEXICO NEW YORK NORTH CAROLINA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO OKLAHOMA OREGON PENNSYLVANIA PUERTO RICO SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS UTAH VERMONT VIRGINIA WASHINGTON WEST VIRGINIA WISCONSIN WYOMING

CRP Acres Expiring in 2014

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

Top 4 Corn Producing States

2,500,000
2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0

ILLINOIS

IOWA

MINNESOTA

NEBRASKA

2007

2013

What about North Dakota?

More than 1.5 million acres have expired since 2007 in the Prairie Pothole Region Since 2007, ND has lost about 1.9 million CRP acres In the 2013 CRP sign-up, only 69 % of the acres offered in ND were accepted About 141 thousands of acres will expire this fall.

www.griggsdakota.com

CRP Enrolment
1,000,000 1,500,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 3,500,000 4,000,000

2,500,000

500,000

0 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

North Dakota CRP Enrollment

North Dakota Enrollment vs Expiration

3,500,000

3,000,000
2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000

500,000
0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

ND Enrollment (Acres)
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

ND Expiring (Acres)

North Dakota CRP Acres Loss

700,000.00

600,000.00
500,000.00 400,000.00 300,000.00 200,000.00 100,000.00 2008 2009
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

2010

2011

2012

2013

What about North Dakota? continued

Uncertainty regarding the level of acres will be offered or accepted for re-enrollment into the CRP Without new and re-enrollment in the next 5 years, more than 1 million acres of land for wildlife habitat will be lost The loss of wildlife habitat translates into fewer places to hunt

www.ducks.org

Next Step
Many of the Put back those goods one on production No-till technique

2014 Farm Bill

References
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=copr&topic= crp https://www.ducks.org/farmbill/page2 http://www.bigpictureagriculture.com/2013/03/weve-lost-9-7-million-acresof-crp-land-in-five-years-334.html http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/20823/