For Immediate Release

Contacts:

John R Whitaker, State Executive Director

(515) 254 1540, Ext. 1000

.

Des Moines, Iowa, March 29, 2012: State Executive Director of USDA’s Iowa Farm Service Agency, John R. Whitaker, reminds farmers that the deadline for enrolling land into the Farm Service Agency’s general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign up is April 6, 2012.

.

Interested producers are encouraged to contact their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to begin the sign up process. Producers are also reminded that offers need to be completed in their entirety by the end of sign up, April 6th in order to be considered eligible. “Interested persons need to talk to our local FSA offices now,” says John R Whitaker, State Executive Director for Iowa’s Farm Service Agency. “Time management is critical with CRP enrollment due to the number of decisions to make.”

.

Following sign-up, all offers for CRP will be evaluated and ranked using an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) 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 Farm Service Agency provides participants annual rental payments, and cost share on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

.

For more information on CRP, please contact your county FSA office or the website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov.