Number: 2010-04
WHEREAS, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), enacted as part of the 1985 Farm Bill and reauthorized in each successive Farm Bill approved by Congress, has proven to be one of the most successful conservation measures in history — reducing soil loss and improving water quality in the country’s more highly erodible watersheds and providing vital long-term habitat for hundreds of wildlife species; and
WHEREAS, Congress recognized the far-reaching value of this program by setting an enrollment goal of up to 45 million acres in 1985; and
WHEREAS, annual enrollment periods are needed to enable agricultural producers to make sound and timely decisions regarding enrollment of highly erodible and other sensitive acres into this program, or to renew expiring contracts; and
WHEREAS, Congress established water quality, wildlife benefits and reduced soil loss as the purposes of the CRP program, yet administrative rulemaking has added additional purposes to the program, which reduces the co-equal weight shared by soil protection, water quality and wildlife benefits; and
WHEREAS, individual states–and technical committees tasked with providing advice on the CRP–better understand local and regional land use, land types and optimum conservation practices to attain those soil protection, water quality and wildlife benefit goals set out by Congress; and
WHEREAS, the CRP provides important benefits by storing large amounts of carbon by restoring marginal cropland to grassland or forest; and
WHEREAS, many economic uses of CRP land, such as wind energy development, haying, grazing, or biomass harvesting, if not carefully controlled and prohibited where incompatible, have the potential to detract from the statutory purpose of the program;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled April 8-10, 2010 in Houston, Texas, hereby urges the President, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide funding and language to authorize a Conservation Reserve Program enrollment goal of up to 45 million acres; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF urges Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture to direct the Farm Service Agency to restore an annual enrollment period for general CRP contracts; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF urges USDA, in its administrative rulemaking, to restore equal weight to the original CRP goals of reduced soil erosion, improved water quality and improved benefits for wildlife as it ranks factors and practices; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each state’s Farm Service Agency be allowed flexibility to structure enrollment in—and ultimately provide payment for—specific continuous sign up conservation practices more suited to the land types and practices within that state; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF urges USDA to adjust CRP rental rates on an annual basis to ensure that rates remain competitive; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF calls on USDA to limit any economic use of CRP land to those uses that are compatible with the primary purposes of CRP.