U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said Friday that his department will will increase by $50 per acre the current $100 per acre incentive for farmers to enroll qualifying land that would be set aside from production and held for bird and animal habitats.

“To encourage producers to sign up their most environmentally valuable acres FSA will increase the Signing Incentive Payments (SIPs) to $150 per acre from the current level of $100 per acre,” Vilsack said Friday at an outdoor recreation conference at the U.S. Department of Interior in Washington.

“The incentive is offered on most continuous practices and will include wetland restorations, pollinators and upland bird habitat.”

The goal of the incentive is to get at least 1 million more acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program beyond the 8 million acres already set aside. The CRP is the government’s main tool to take lands out of continuous crop production, but has been threatened in recent years by high corn and soybean prices which reduce farmers’ incentives to keep land idle.

Vilsack said ““CRP is one of our nation’s most valuable and vital conservation efforts, ensuring cleaner air and water, preventing soil erosion, and enhancing economic opportunity in rural America by supporting recreation and tourism.”

But the Secretary added “with high crop prices, this approach to target our most sensitive lands is essential if we want to maintain the substantial benefits of CRP while ensuring that productive farm lands continue to produce the food and fiber Americans and the world needs.”

The CRP program was created in 1985 at a time when crop and land prices were low. Enrollments reached as high as 45 million acres in the early years of t he program. Landowners are offered annual payments in return for signing contracts to stop farming erosion-prone tracts for at least 10 years. The various wetlands and wildlife habitat protection programs are folded into CRP.

Vilsack said the USDA would make it easier for farmers to participate in the wetlands, grasslands and wildlife program duck nesting habitats, upland birds, wetlands, pollinators and wildlife through a process he called “continuous” enrollment, rather than waiting for expiration of current CRP contracts and the renewal process.

The incentives would be done by expanding the USDA’s State Acres For Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program, which allows farmerss to voluntarily enroll acres in CRP contracts for 10-15 years (the contract length depends on the SAFE proposal authorized for the area).

Iowa currently has 36,464 acres enrolled under the SAFE program.
In exchange, producers receive annual CRP rental payments, which Vilsack said Friday would be increased, incentives and cost-share assistance to establish habitat-enhancing natural covers on eligible land.

Hunters, fisherpersons and outdoors and recreation enthusiasts are among the strongest boosters of conservation titles in the Farm Bill. Last week a coalition led by Ducks Unlimited and other hunting and fishing groups appeared before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee to urge retention of conservation titles in the Farm Bill currently being written.

Conservationists are worried not only about losing CRP land at a time of near-record commodity prices, but also the possible loss of mandatory conservation requirements currently tied to Direct Payments. Because Direct Payments are likely to be dropped in the new Farm Bill, conservationists have urged that the conservation requirement be shifted to federally-subsidized crop insurance.

Brad Redlin, director of agriculture programs for the Izaak Walton League, said he was pleased with Vilsack’s proposal.

“We’re particularly concerned about grassland and wetlands protection,” said Redlin. “It’s hard to see if the extra $50 will be enough of an incentive, but it won’t make things worse.”

Conservationists have worried about the drop in CRP acres from 39 million before the 2008 Farm Bill to the the 29 million currently enrolled.

In Iowa about 1.7 million acres are enrolled in the CRP, compared to 24 million acres under corn, soybean and hay cultivation. Average CRP rental payments average $111.04 per acre, according to USDA figures.

Of Iowa’s 1 million acres enrolled, USDA figures show that 415,541 acres will expire this year or next.