Conservation stewardship program announced in USA

The United States Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Lafayette Soil and Water Conservation District have announced the sign-up period for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), heralding a new and exciting opportunity for farmers, ranchers and other landowners and is now accepting applications on a continuous basis.
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"The new CSP program represents a real opportunity for those agriculture producers and other landowners who practice good stewardship on their land," Kevin Norton, NRCS state conservationist, said.
"Unlike traditional conservation programs that cost-share with producers on improvements, this program will actually give a per acre direct payment to producers based on how well they are managing their natural resources. This represents a real opportunity to help the bottom lines of Louisiana producers."
CSP is a voluntary conservation program that encourages producers to address resource concerns in a comprehensive manner by: Undertaking additional conservation activities; and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities.
Through CSP, NRCS will provide financial and technical assistance to eligible producers to conserve and enhance soil, water, air, and related natural resources on their land. Eligible lands include cropland, pastureland, rangeland, and nonindustrial private forest lands on which resource concerns related to agricultural production could be addressed.
CSP offers participants two possible types of payments: annual payment for installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining and managing existing activities; and supplemental payment for the adoption of resource-conserving crop rotations.
Norton, in consultation with the State Technical Committee and local work groups, will focus program impacts on natural resources that are of specific concerns to Louisiana and the specific geographic areas within Louisiana.
Applications will be evaluated relative to other applications addressing similar priority resource concerns to facilitate a competitive ranking process among applicants within Louisiana who face similar resource challenges.
Prospective applicants interested in obtaining a stewardship contract for CSP assistance may file an application at any time. Please contact the Lafayette Service Center at 262-6601, ext. 3, to learn more about CSP and the many benefits it offers. NRCS and SWCD are Equal Opportunity Providers and Employers. For more information on NRCS and other Farm Bill programs, go to
www.la.nrcs.usda.gov.
Theresa Mathews is county executive director for the Lafayette and St. Martin Farm Service Agency. She can be reached at 337-262-6601, ext. 2 in Lafayette and at 337-332-2811, ext. 2 in St. Martin.