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Wisconsin NRCS News
Media & Public
Affairs Contact: Renae Anderson, Public Affairs Specialist
USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service
8030 Excelsior Drive, Suite 200
Madison, Wisconsin 53717
Telephone: (608) 662-4422 ext 227
Email: renae.anderson@wi.usda.gov
Contact: Eric Allness, 608-662-4422 x 246
July 18, 2012 NEWS
See CSP Featured Farmers
http://www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp/cstp.html
2012 Payments Average $6416 per Farm
477 Wisconsin Farmers Enroll in Conservation Stewardship
Program
Madison, Wis…… Nearly 500 Wisconsin farmers and forest
landowners have successfully enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program
for 2012. This is the third year that this program has been open throughout
Wisconsin.
“This great response from Wisconsin farmers comes as no
surprise,” said Pat Leavenworth, State Conservationist for the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service in Wisconsin. “Wisconsin has a strong
conservation ethic and a long history of conservation, beginning in the 1930s.”
“We are especially pleased that 68 beginning farmers enrolled,”
Leavenworth added. “These are good conservation farmers that are willing to try
new ways to protect water, soil and wildlife.”
In 2012, 477 farmers and forestland owners enrolled in CSP, with
an average payment of $6,416 per contract. Over $3 million in payments will be
made to those farm families this year, and over $15 million over the course of
the five-year contract.
For many farmers , CSP offers reward and recognition for the conservation they
are already doing, plus a little extra incentive to try a few more or new
practices.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), authorized in the
2008 Farm Bill, is a voluntary program that offers payments to producers who
exercise good land stewardship and agree to further improve their conservation
performance. CSP is available to all producers regardless of operation type,
crops produced, or geographic location.
Total crop and pasture land acres enrolled in Wisconsin to date
is 668,683, plus 94,383 acres of woodland (non-industrial private forestland) in
1978 contracts.
For this signup, average payments in Wisconsin were $20 per acre
for cropland, $14 per acre for pasture, and $3.70 per acre for woodland.
Payments are made annually for each of the five years of the contract. CSP is
open to small and large operations, with farms already enrolled ranging from
just a couple of acres to over 3,000 acres of cropland.
For more information, visit
www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov under Programs ,
or contact the NRCS office at the USDA Service Center serving your county.
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The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities
on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability,
political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all
prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require
alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large
print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600
(voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of
discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten
Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call
(202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and
employer.
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