CONGRESSMAN
COLLIN C. PETERSON
Minnesota - 7th District       http://www.house.gov/collinpeterson/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2003
CONTACT: Allison Myhre/218-847-5056 or 218-731-1657

(Washington, DC) - Congressman Collin Peterson announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to extend the deadline to sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to June 13, 2003.

“On Monday, I spoke to USDA Secretary Ann Veneman and told her there had been some problems getting the sign up started on time. I told her we needed more time for farmers and landowners in the 7th District to sign up for CRP,” Peterson said. “I’m pleased she heard what I was telling her and granted this extension.”

CRP is the nation's largest private lands environmental improvement program. The program protects millions of acres of American topsoil from erosion, provides valuable wildlife habitat and safeguards America's streams and other bodies of water. The 2002 Farm Bill authorized CRP enrollment up to 39.2 million acres.

Current participants with contracts expiring this fall - covering about 1.5 million acres - can make new contract offers which, if accepted, will become effective on October 1, 2003. All other contracts awarded under this sign-up will become effective either at the beginning of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2003, or the following year, Oct. 1, 2004, whichever the producer chooses.

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