Maryland Farmers Sign Nation's First CSP Contract for 2005

by Caryl Velisek (The Delmarva Farmer Newspaper)

USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner signed a Conservation Security Program (CSP) contract of 2005 at a ceremony at the Rasche Brothers Farm on John Shirk Road in Carroll County, Md., on July 25. It was the first farm in the nation to be signed up for the new program this year. Conner said USDA will offer 12,700 CSP contracts across the nation in 2005 that translate into more than a $1 billion in long-term commitment to conservation over the next 10 years. “CSP participants are conservation innovators. What they do today will lead to additional environmental benefits for the nation as they share their knowledge of conservation with others,” Conner said. The CSP contracts offered cover about 9 million acres of private land in the country’s 220 watersheds nationwide. USDA expects to fully invest the $202 million provided by Congress for this fiscal year.

Bill, Tom and John Rasche, partner with a brother-in-law, in Rasche Brothers Inc., a business that includes the farming operation and a construction business. Bill and John do most of the farming with help from Bill’s son, Brian. Their brother-in-law helps with hay and straw when needed, as do other members of the family. Tom manages the construction business. They have been at their present location more than 11 years. The farm consists of 750 acres, with 650 of those acres enrolled in CSP. The farming operation consists of cash grain, corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, and they feed out 40 to 50 beef a year which they sell mainly privately as freezer beef. Like many Maryland farmers, the Rasches were already using many conservation practices when they applied for CSP, including no till, field strip cropping, CREP, cool season grasses, riparian forest buffers, nutrient management, pest management, and grassed waterways. “In fact, one of the fields was already contoured when we came here,” Bill Rasche said. “We can’t thank NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) enough for all their help. The workshops they gave prior to signup were excellent and invaluable.”

CSP is different from prior programs, according to Patricia Engler, a resource conservationist with NRCS, in that it rewards the nations leading conservationists and provides incentives for them and others to do even more. Environmental enhancement activities offered by applicants include improving soil quality and water quality, wildlife habitat management, nutrient and pest management and on-farm energy management.

After the signing and announcement of contracts by Deputy Secretary Conner, Virginia Murphy, the NRCS Maryland state conservationist who replaced retiring Dave Doss in April, and who was formerly the NRCS state conservationist in Delaware, expressed her gratification with Maryland’s first year in CSP. “Now that Deputy Secretary Conner has announced the National CSP Watershed Contract Awards, I want to tell you a little bit about how Maryland fared in our first year in CSP. “Thanks to the work done by farmers in our eligible watersheds and the technical assistance provided by NRCS and our conservation partners - Maryland did exceptionally well in CSP,” Murphy said. Maryland had two CSP watersheds in 2005. The Monocacy Watershed , (which the Rasche farm is in) consists of parts of Carroll, Frederick and Montgomery counties and the Chester - Sassafras Watershed on the Eastern Shore which contains all of Kent County, portions of Queen Anne’s, Cecil, and Talbot counties and portions of adjoining counties in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

“Maryland had the most CSP contracts of any East Coast state and was in the top 25 percent nationally for approved applications. What this means is that almost $4.4 million dollars in CSP funding is being used to reward 377 farmers for their conservation work on over 105,000 acres.” This averages out to payments of about $42 per acre for enrolled land, Murphy added. “How did this happen and why did Maryland do so well in its first year of CSP eligibility? Maryland did well in CSP because it is a program that rewards the best,” Murphy said. “Our farmers have a long history of conservation stewardship and cooperation with NRCS through Soil Conservation Districts, the Maryland Department of Agriculture and with other conservation partners.”

Murphy listed these as some of the reasons farmers in Maryland made successful applications:

• The wide spread use of no-till and limited tillage farming in Maryland improves Soil Conditioning Index.
• Nutrient management program. This long-standing state program helped our farmers be prepared with plans and records, she said.
• Participation in USDA conservation programs like the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

“These programs created wildlife habitat and planted native vegetation along critical areas and streams which improved wildlife habitat scores,” she added. Farmers used the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to obtain grazing plans and pest management plans through incentive payments. Private pesticide and fertilizer applicators played an important role in helping farmers qualify by balancing nutrients with plant needs and keeping accurate and complete records. “Our USDA Service Center Field office staff hosted workshops and public meetings in evenings and during the day and worked long hours to accommodate farmers’ schedules for interviews,” Murphy said. “In Maryland we had over 1,000 farmers who sought information about the CSP program through attending public meetings, phone calls to the field office and field office visits. “I am very proud of Maryland’s farmers and of our Conservation Partnership that made this tremendous achievement and recognition through CSP- possible,” Murphy said. “Please accept my sincere gratitude for the long hours and dedication shown by the staff of NRCS, the Soil Conservation Districts, our conservation partners, and members of the CSP Watershed Teams that all added up to make CSP in 2005 a banner year for Maryland.”

CSP is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private agriculture lands by providing payments for maintaining and enhancing natural resources. NRCS financial and technical assistance promotes the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy, plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes. CSP will be available each year on a rotational basis in as many watersheds as funding allows. Additional information on CSP, including the self-assessment workbook and Federal Register notice, is at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp.  NRCS also extended the comment period on the interim final rule for CSP to Sept. 9, 2005. This extension will give the public additional time to comment on key issues regarding implementation of the program. The extension notice was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2005. Comments can be made via the Federal Register at the Regulations web site by e-mailing farmbillrules@wdc.usda.gov.

Watch for announcements concerning workshops and signups or contact your local NRCS office.

Reprinted from The Delmarva Farmer Newspaper 8/9/2005