Glickman Resists Pressure To Increase Crp Acreage

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glick man refused Tuesday to bend to political pressure to increase the Conservation Reserve Program acreage in Washington.

But in a letter to Republican Sen. Slade Gorton and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, Glickman said changes will be made in a second national bid for CRP contracts later this year that “will likely result in more Washington land being accepted.”

In addition, Glickman said he will accelerate payments for farmers who are re-enrolling their acreage during the September bid, allowing them to immediately begin collecting government payments from the environmental program. Without the change, farmers would have had to wait a year for their money.

“It’s possible we can get a fair shake on the deal, but I certainly hope he (Glickman) is clear on what those changes will be,” said John Payne, national legislation chairman for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

Washington farmers and politicians reacted angrily last month when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the state’s conservation reserve land would drop from 1 million to 400,000 acres, reducing annual payments by $30 million.

Washington landowners did poorly in the national bid held in March for 16 million CRP acres, receiving approval for just one of five acres offered. That compared with an 83 percent acceptance rate in Idaho, and placed Washington at the bottom among U.S. farm states. Bids were based on a combination of environmental benefits and price.

Landowners who win CRP contracts agree to idle their fields for 10 years and seed the ground with perennial vegetation. In exchange, they annually collect an average of $39 per acre.

In his two-page letter, Glickman stood by the results of the March bid, saying the agency did not err.

Gorton called Glickman’s response “a long-winded excuse.” Murray said the changes don’t go far enough. She wants the next bid to occur in August to help minimize farmers’ losses.

The senators are scheduled to meet with Glickman Thursday.

Glickman said his agency will change how it evaluates bids from the state “to be more responsive to Washington’s soil and air quality concerns.” Farmers also would enhance their chances, he said, by agreeing to plant several types of vegetation, rather than a single prairie grass.

One problem with the fall sign-up, Payne said, was that it is only for 3 million to 4 million acres.

“There may be too many people chasing too many acres,” he said.

, DataTimes