Crp Scrutinized

Conservation

Congress is getting an earful as it considers whether to kill or extend the Conservation Reserve Program. The program, aimed mostly at saving highly erodible topsoil, pays farmers up to $50 per acre per year to idle their land.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the 36.5 million acres enrolled in the program is one of the country’s most successful efforts at keeping topsoil in the fields rather than in the air and waterways. Ag officials say it’s one of the few programs that please large numbers of farmers and environmentalists.

Wildlife and hunting groups have lauded the program’s role in improving habitat for wildlife ranging from lark buntings to mule deer.

Fishing groups credit CRP with keeping silt and other contaminants from running off farmland.

But critics argue that the $12 billion program suffers from waste and abuse, charging that it has:

squandered billions of dollars by paying double or more than the market rates for much land.

undermined farmers’ incentive to conserve their soil by enrolling land primarily from those who have neglected good conservation practices.

hurt rural economies by limiting farming while driving up land-rental rates.

failed to target the most erodible land.

The General Accounting Office earlier this year concluded that the CRP should be downsized and streamlined, arguing that idling just 6 million acres as buffer strips along waterways could be as effective in protecting water quality.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, who has extended CRP for a year pending congressional action, defends it as by and large, a success. But he concedes the government has paid too much for some CRP acreage.

, DataTimes