Questions and Answers

What is the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program?

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a joint Federal-State land retirement conservation program that targets significant environmental effects related to agriculture. It is a voluntary program that uses financial incentives to encourage farmers to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in contracts of 10 to 15 years in duration to remove lands from agricultural production.

What is the Delaware State CREP?

The Delaware CREP is a special conservation program tailored to meet the needs of the state. This voluntary program will improve the water quality of streams and increase wildlife habitat. Up to 6,000 acres may be enrolled. The Delaware CREP is a Federal-State agreement to commit environmentally sensitive agricultural land through the Conservation Reserve Program to a conserving use.

What are the goals of the Delaware CREP?

The Delaware CREP has been designed to:

• reduce nutrient and sediment loadings to impaired streams and help restore designated uses of surface waters;

• improve water temperature and dissolved oxygen parameters necessary to support biology and wildlife; and

• increase upland wildlife habitat and create wildlife corridors.

Throughout the project, the State will conduct monitoring to evaluate and record progress in achieving these goals.

What areas in Delaware are included in the program?

Certain areas of the State are approved for CREP. These include cropland and marginal pastureland in the watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the Inland Bays basin area. Conservation practices must be installed adjoining impaired streams or contributing drainage ditches in the designated project areas.

What are the benefits of the Delaware CREP?

CREP will provide a number of significant environmental benefits to Delaware’s surface waters. Many of the existing drainage ditches currently have no vegetative buffers. Under the CREP, Delaware will be able to buffer approximately 1,200 miles of waterways. Improved water quality will result from reduced nutrient loading, sediment loading, and pesticide runoff. Forested buffers will also help lower water temperatures, increase dissolved oxygen, and provide additional wildlife habitat.

Which conservation practices are applicable under the program?

The Delaware CREP has a number of conservation practices available from which farmers can choose. The practices and associated acreages are:

Grassed filter strips      (CP21) 	3,000 acres

Riparian forest buffers  (CP22)	1,000 acres

Wildlife habitat              (CP4D)	1,000 acres

Wetland restoration     (CP23)	  500 acres

Hardwood trees 	       (CP3A)	  500 acres

Who can sign-up for the Delaware State CREP and when?

Enrollment for the Delaware CREP will be on a continuous basis beginning June 7. Eligible land must be within the project area and meet the basic eligibility criteria for CRP. Land must be either cropland or marginal pasture land. Cropland must have been planted to crops two of the past five years and be physically and legally capable of being cropped. Marginal pastureland can be enrolled provided it is suitable for use as a riparian buffer planted to trees. Lands that have an existing CRP contract or an approved offer with a contract pending are not eligible for CREP until that contract expires.

What payments are available under the Delaware CREP?

CREP participants are eligible for four types of payments: annual rental payments, incentive payments, cost-share assistance payments, and maintenance. Annual rental payments will be based on the soil rental rate.

In addition to the normal rental payment, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and the State will make a special incentive payment as follows:

1) 130 percent of the county rental rate for land established to riparian buffers and hardwood trees, not to exceed an amount which would produce a total rental rate of $150 per acre; or

2) 50 percent of the county rental rate for land established to wildlife habitat, grassed filter strips, and wetland restoration, not to exceed an amount which would produce a total rental rate of $110 per acre.

Within the same limits participants can also receive a small additional incentive to reflect maintenance obligations. Cost-share assistance up to a total of 87.5 percent is available for the costs of establishing the cover crop with CCC paying 50 percent and the State paying 37.5 percent of the eligible reimbursable costs for installation of the practice.

The State’s cost-share and incentive payment will be calculated for the length of the contract and will be paid in the first year of the contract.

What is the cost?

For enrollment of 6,000 acres, the total financial obligation will be approximately $10 million over 15 years, with $8 million coming from CCC, and the balance from the State.

Where can people get more information about the Delaware CREP?

People wanting more information should contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or the Natural Resources Conservation Service within their local U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center, or the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Kent County	                (302) 697-2600 Ext. 2

New Castle County	(302) 832-3100 Ext. 2

Sussex County	        (302) 856-3990 Ext. 2

Delaware DNREC	 (302) 678-4160

Information may also be obtained from the FSA web site at:

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