Food, Conservation

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Food, Conservation Energy Act of 2008

• Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

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Conservation Stewardship Program

• Presentation Objectives
• Announce Continuous Sign-Up
• Provide Program Features and Requirements
• How To Begin Application Process

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Continuous Sign-Up Announced

• Target Dates
• Begin Sign-Up.... August 10
• First Cutoff....September 30
• Pre-Approve Apps.November 16
• Verify ApproveNovember 30

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Stewardship Program Purpose

• Encourage producers to address resource
  concerns in a comprehensive manner by
• Installing and adopting additional conservation
  activities
• Improving, maintaining, and managing existing
  activities

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Created by 2008 Farm Bill

• Replaces the Conservation Security Program of
  Prior Years
• Authorizes 12,796,000 Acres/Year Enrollment
  Through 2017
• Broadens Program Availability

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Stewardship Program Features

• Broadens Program Availability
• Available nationwide
• Continuous sign-up with periodic cut-offs for
  ranking
• Adds nonindustrial private forest lands as
  eligible land

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Stewardship Program Features

• Shifts Decision-Making to States
• Allocates acres to States to manage
• Focuses on resource concerns identified as a
  priority for a State or areas of a state
• Competitively ranks peers who face similar
  resource challenges

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CSP Benefits - Participants

• Recognition for Excellent Land Stewardship
• Payment for Performance 2 types
• Annual payment for installing additional
  conservation activities as scheduled and
  maintaining existing activities
• Supplemental payment available for a participant
  receiving an annual payment who also adopts a
  resource-conserving crop rotation

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Benefits - Natural Resources and Public

• Delivers valuable new conservation
• Expands agricultural and forestry producers
  ability to produce greater environmental
  benefits
• Improves air, soil, and water quality
• Creates and enhances wildlife habitat
• Assists address global climate change
• Encourages energy conservation and production

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Stewardship Program Requirements

• Program Eligibility
• Applicant
• Land
• Stewardship Threshold Requirement (Land
  Treatment)

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Eligible Applicant
• Operator in Farm Service Agency records
• Documented control for contract term
• Compliant with
• Highly Erodible Land Wetlands Conservation
• AGI
• Supply information to determine eligibility

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Eligible Land
• Private, working agricultural land
• Cropland, Pastureland, and Rangeland
• Agricultural Indian land
• Cropland, Pastureland, and Rangeland
• Nonindustrial private forest land

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Land Eligibility - Entire Operation Required
• Established based on how operator represents
  their operation for other USDA program
  participation
• Application includes eligible land in operators
  entire operation

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Ineligible Land
• CRP, Old CSP, GRP, and WRP
• Public land - Federal, State, or local
• Land cropped after 06/18/08 not planted or
  considered planted 4 of 6 preceding years
• Land other than eligible
• Land not in production, or developed areas

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Stewardship Threshold Requirement
• Must meet or exceed the stewardship threshold for
  at least
• 1 resource concern at time of application and
• 1 priority resource concern at time of
  application, or by end of contract

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Stewardship Program Eligibility

• Stewardship Threshold
• Land treatment requirement
• Assessed on each eligible land use
• Measured using the conservation measurement tool
  (CMT)

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Before Application Process

• Producer Self-Screening Checklist
• Completed by potential applicant to independently
  identify if CSP is right program for them and
  their operation
• Available at NRCS field offices and on NRCS Web
  sites
• www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/new_csp/csp.html

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Application Process

• Producers Who Complete Checklist and Believe
  They Are Eligible May Apply
• At any time with NRCS sign-up is continuous
• One or more ranking periods per year
• Ranking period cutoff dates announced
• Submit application and operation information

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Application Process

• Submit Application Operation Information
• Program Contract Application
• Map/Aerial Photo/Overlay of operation and
  eligible land
• Identify operation
• Delineate eligible land use field boundaries
• Provide exact eligible land use acres

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Application Process

• Ranking Pools
• Agricultural land and nonindustrial private
  forest land compete separately
• Socially disadvantaged pool
• Beginning pool

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Application Process

• If Applicant and Land Eligibility Are Met
• Prepare and schedule to complete the Conservation
  Measurement Tool

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Application Process

• Applicant Preparation for Conservation
  Measurement Tool
• Respond to resource inventory questions
• Review CSP activity list and job sheets for
  potential new enhancements

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Conservation Measurement Tool

• Estimates Conservation Performance Level
• Inventories current resource conditions to
  estimate existing conservation performance level
• Schedules new conservation activities to estimate
  performance level improvement

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Conservation Measurement Tool

• Conservation Performance Level
• Determines land treatment eligibility
• Ranks applications
• Establishes annual payment

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Application Process

• Pre-Approved Applicants
• On-site field verification of resource inventory
  information provided at application
• Producer records required
• Substantiate that resource inventory information
  was accurate prior to contract approval

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Application Process

• Pre-Approved Applicants
• If records and site visit verify accuracy of
  resource inventory information then proceed to
  develop stewardship plan and contract
• If information misrepresented or no records
  then application is ineligible

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Stewardship Contract

• Five year contract
• Owner can be participant
• Requires participant to maintain existing
  activities and install new activities as
  scheduled in plan
• Payment after October for contract activities
  carried out in previous year

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Payment for Conservation Performance

• Annual Payment
• Established using conservation performance
  estimated by Tool
• Calculated by land-use type for enrolled eligible
  land

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Payment for Conservation Performance

• Supplemental Payment
• Available to participant receiving an annual
  payment who also adopts a resource-conserving
  crop rotation

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Payment Limitations

• Person or Legal Entity Limit
• Regardless of number of contracts, a person or
  legal entity may not receive direct or indirect
  payments that in aggregate exceed
• 40,000 during any fiscal year
• 200,000 during any 5 year period

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Payment Limitations

• Contract Limit
• Each contract limited to 200,000 over the term
  of the initial contract period

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CSP Summary

• Continuous Sign-Up Underway
• First Cutoff Date - September 30
• Potential Applicants Begin With Producer
  Self-Screening Checklist

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• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  prohibits discrimination in all its programs and
  activities on the basis of race, color, national
  origin, age, disability, and where applicable,
  sex, marital status, familial status, parental
  status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic
  information, political beliefs, reprisal, or
  because all or a part of an individual's income
  is derived from any public assistance program.
  (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)
  Persons with disabilities who require alternative
  means for communication of program information
  (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should
  contact USDA's TARGET Center at [phone]
  (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of
  discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of
  Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.,
  Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800)
  795-3272 (voice) or [phone] (TDD). USDA is
  an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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