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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that farmers may re-enroll or extend their Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expiring in 2007 through 2010.

CRP is a voluntary program for agricultural producers, which helps them protect environmentally sensitive land. Producers enrolling in CRP plant long-term, resource conservation covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and enhance wildlife habitat. In return, USDA provides rental payments and cost-share assistance.

Approximately 171,347 acres in Ohio are scheduled to expire between Sept. 30, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2010.

In spring 2006, FSA will contact producers with general CRP contracts to inform them of options for contract re-enrollment or extension. Farmers and ranchers will confirm their contract interests at that time and a compliance check of the contract acres will be performed. Fifteen-year contracts expiring Sept. 30, 2007, are not eligible for re-enrollment or extension. During the next several months, FSA will update the CRP soil rental rates to better reflect local market rates of cropland for new CRP contracts, re-enrollments and extensions.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said this effort fulfills President Bush's commitment to improve the nation's environment and protect its wildlife habitat, water and natural resources.

"Balance is the key to any good conservation plan. So we're offering farmers and ranchers re-enrollments and contract extensions to take full advantage of the environmental benefits of this program," Johanns said. "Re-enrolling and extending these contracts is part of the president's plan to fully use the nearly 40 million acres of CRP to improve water quality as well as wildlife habitat."

In order to determine who might be able to re-enroll or extend a CRP contract, USDA's Farm Service Agency will use the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) that was in place when the contracts were first written. The EBI is a measuring system that assigns point scores to the contracts and then nationally ranks all CRP land enrollment offers. Several environmental outcomes factor into EBI point scores such as improving wildlife habitat, water quality and air quality and reducing soil erosion.

The EBI scores are based upon a 100 percentile that is divided into five ranking tiers. In the first tier, CRP producers ranking in the top 20 percent of the EBI can re-enroll their land in new contracts and farmers and ranchers with wetlands in this ranking can receive contract terms of 10 to 15 years.

CRP producers ranking within the second tier, between 61 to 80 percent, can extend their contracts for five years. Farmers and ranchers ranking within the third tier, 41 to 60 percent, can extend their CRP contracts by four years. Those ranking in the fourth tier, between 21 to 40 percent, can receive three-year extensions. And those contracts ranking in the fifth tier of the 20 percent of CRP producers can extend their contracts by two years.

For more information on the CRP program, visit www.ofbf.org and click Featured Links.