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EQIP and CRP Save Soil on Iowa Farm
Conservation is the name of the game at Tony
Allen's farm near Diagonal in Union County. Allen has several acres enrolled
in the CRP and uses grass filter strips in his crop ground. He has also used
Environmental Quality Incentives Program dollars on his Southwest Iowa farm.
IFT photo by Jeff DeYoung. |
DIAGONAL — The rough terrain of southern Union County suggests it was made
with cattle in mind, but the rugged slopes and abundant waterways also suggest
this land is an excellent candidate for soil erosion.
Tony Allen concedes he's seen some erosion over the years, but over the past 18
months, the Southwest Iowa farmer has done something about it.
Allen has taken advantage of at least two USDA conservation programs to make
sure his land is there for his children and grandchildren.
"It was something we had always thought about, but these programs have allowed
us to do it," he says.
Two creeks run through his farm, and Allen has planted grass buffer strips along
much of the channels. The strips give him extra forage for his 140 cows in the
fall, and Allen happily pays back some of the money he received from USDA.
He planted contour buffer strips through the 50 acres he plants to corn and
soybeans. Allen has enrolled 29.3 acres in the
Conservation Reserve Program.
With Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP), he has built two ponds and turned a troublesome
pasture in a rotational grazing system.
What some farmers spend years building, Allen has done in 18 months.
"We figured once we got started, we might as well get it done at once," he says.
Allen uses minimum tillage on his crop ground because he turns his cows loose on
it after harvest. Several ancient terraces dot the landscape, but Allen says the
grass strips have been just as effective.
Building the ponds gave him water sources for his cow herd. He also does some
custom calving, and the rotational grazing system has helped him improve the
quality of grass on all his pastures.
"We mow hay on most of them, and last year we had quite a bit of rain so the hay
was excellent," Allen says. "We were pretty pleased with how it looked."
There is little doubt conservation programs have greatly reduced soil erosion.
An estimated 295 million tons of reduced erosion per year could be a result of
using different conservation-compliance policies, according to a story by Roger
Claassen in USDA's Economic Research Service's
publication, "Amber Waves.''
Claassen also notes between 1982 and 1997, "excess erosion dropped sharply on
these (highly erodible) farms, and the reduction in erosion appears to have been
larger on farms receiving payments than on farms not receiving payments. . . .
"Overall, a significant share of erosion reduction between 1982 and 1997 is
likely to have occurred on land directly subject to conservation-compliance
requirements."
Claassen says some conservation compliance likely would have happened without
the incentive programs, but adds "the compliance requirement, structured to
focus on inexpensive practices, may have accelerated the adoption process on all
types of land."
Farmers are taking advantage of these incentives, including newer programs, such
as EQIP, says Jeff Zimprich, a soil conservationist with the
Natural Resources Conservation Service
in Atlantic.
A variety of factors may have pushed some farmers into conservation programs.
Zimprich says increased use of no-till, for example, may have been the result of
farms getting larger and the need to spread available labor over more acres.
But, he adds farmers are becoming more aware of conservation programs, and says
interest in EQIP is very strong.
"The demand for EQIP money has been very high in my counties in Southwest Iowa,"
Zimprich says.
"We have some counties with a backlog of requests because of the increased
interest in the program."
He says the initial EQIP allocation in Iowa this year should be about $12
million.
"It's one of our most popular programs because of the cost-share incentive. A
fair share of it goes to livestock operations, and we're doing a lot of work
with grazing systems.
"We're building a lot of terraces, too, and last year we had money for ground
and surface water programs so we could conserve as much as we could."
A large number of CRP contracts will come up for renewal in 2007.
Zimprich says this could be a major issue for USDA because some farmers may be
tempted to take acres of the program and return the land to crop production.
"With the rental rate for cropland, it may be hard to resist," he says. "We'll
have to see how that plays out."
One of the newer programs, the
Conservation Security Program (CSP), will expand this year into other
watersheds. Zimprich believes the CSP is the "conservation program of the
future."
"We always heard from our really good conservation farmers that there was not a
program for them. Well, this is the program because it offers some tremendous
incentives," he says.
"Last year, we had some growing pains, but we did a tremendous amount of
education to get these guys thinking about conservation. It's a really good
program, and we hope more will take advantage of it."
Zimprich says the NRCS also offers a number of cost-share programs, as well as a
newer program with low interest loans for participating farmers.
"If you are interested, there are a lot of really good programs out there," he
says.
Allen is content with how his farm is set up. He says results were seen almost
immediately in terms of pasture quality and cow herd production.
There is still some tinkering to do, but Allen is not planning any drastic
changes on his farm.
"We might fool around with the rotational grazing a little, putting in electric
fence so we can move the cows around a little more, but other than that, I'm
happy with it," he says.
"We'd been thinking about doing something, and I'm glad we finally went ahead
with it."
Story by Jeff DeYoung, Iowa Farmer Today.
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