Ag Department Exec Visiting Washington

To help farmers prepare for the upcoming Conservation Reserve Program sign-up starting Oct. 14, U.S. Department of Agriculture Associate Administrator Randy Weber is in Washington this week.

He is attending three sign-up meetings to explain the scoring system for the program.

The federal program pays farmers to idle land in order to prevent soil erosion. Washington farmers scored among the lowest in the latest sign-up this spring. Weber will explain the new scoring system.

He will be at the meeting at the Pasco PUD building at 1:30 p.m. today at the Whitman County Fairgrounds and at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Whitman County Fairgrounds in Colfax.

The Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resource Conservation Service will hold several other meetings this week in Eastern Washington. For more information, contact your local FSA office. , DataTimes