FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 1996
CONTACT: Dana Hagerty 202/225-2165
ST. CLOUD, MN -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) will testify later this month at a USDA Farm Bill Public Forum on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) provisions in the 1996 Farm Bill. The forum will be held Tuesday, October 15, at the St. Cloud Civic Center, Stockinger Suite, 10 4th Avenue South.
“Meetings like this one are going on all across the country over the next week, but this is the only one in Minnesota,” Peterson said. “If landowners in the 7th District have anything at all to say about the proposed CRP provisions, this will be their best chance to do so. It is vital that USDA hears the concerns of landowners in Minnesota on this issue.
“I’ve been working hard to keep the program simple, to make it available to people with existing contracts, and to put the decisions in the hands of the farmers,” Peterson said. “When we debated this issue in Congress, we defeated numerous attempts by environmentalists and grain companies to restrict eligibility. Unfortunately, the new rule is weighted more towards the criteria that was wanted by the environmental groups and grain companies. Among other things, no land with an erodibility index of less than eight will qualify under the proposed CRP enrollment criteria.
“Next year, about 24 million CRP contracts will expire nationwide,” Peterson said. “Some estimates show that if we follow this new criteria, Minnesota could lose between 50 and 60 percent of its existing CRP acres,” Peterson said.
“I will be testifying at this hearing that I would like to see an exemption added to USDA’s new enrollment criteria that would allow existing acres to be re-enrolled, even if they have an erodibility index of less than eight,” Peterson continued. “I told USDA at a recent committee hearing that this was going to be a problem. USDA said they would look at giving us an exemption for wildlife so that people with existing acres might be able to re-enroll.
“There is a conservation priority area exemption in the proposed rule that environmentalists say will protect wildlife. And while it should help, the process is not clear and is too complicated. We are proposing that 15 to 20 percent of cropland be eligible for a wildlife exemption, in addition to the 10 percent that is currently included in the rule.
“I am hopeful that USDA will work with us on this, because losing that many CRP acres would be a disservice to those who hunt and fish in Minnesota.”
The CRP public forum begins at 9:00 a.m. on October 15. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. All oral and written comments will be forwarded to USDA.