CRP signup deadline April 15

DES MOINES ? The deadline for enrolling land into the Farm Service Agency?s general Conservation Reserve Program sign up is April 15.

?Interested persons need to talk to our local FSA offices now,? said John R Whitaker, state executive director for Iowa?s Farm Service Agency. ?Enrollment into CRP involves making many decisions, so time management is important.?

Interested participants are encouraged to contact their local FSA office to begin the sign up process. Producers also are reminded that offers need to be completed in their entirety by the end of sign up, April 15. in order to be considered eligible.

?With the decisions that need to be made, producers need to allow themselves adequate time to complete the process before sign up ends,? added Whitaker.

Following sign-up, all offers for CRP will be evaluated and ranked using an Environmental Benefits Index for the environmental benefits to be gained from enrolling the land in CRP. The EBI consists of five environmental factors ? wildlife, water, soil, air and enduring benefits ? and a cost factor. Decisions on the EBI cutoff will be made after the sign-up ends and after analyzing the EBI data of all the offers.

CRP is the largest voluntary private-land conservation program. It helps farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers use their environmentally sensitive land for conservation purposes. In return for offering the land, the FSA provides participants rental payments and cost share on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

For more information on CRP, call the Jefferson County FSA office or visit the website at www.fsa.usda.gov.