By Patricia Paul

Public Affairs Specialist
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Virginia

7.13.2010 - Nearly 200 Virginia farmers applied during the second ranking period for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).
Forty-six of these applications were for non-industrial private forest land.
The counties with the most CSP applications were: Southampton (21), Westmoreland (18), Richmond (13), Northumberland (12), and Charles City (10).
The CSP passed in the 2008 Farm Bill was made available to farmers for the first time in the fall of 2009.
The program rewards farmers for their current conservation practices and for doing new conservation practices and enhancements over a five-year contract period.
Successful applicants could receive up to $200,000 in benefits over the five year contract period.
The tremendous response shows that conservation minded producers want to attain even higher levels of conservation stewardship and are willing to invest time and money to do so.
While farmers can apply anytime for CSP, sign-up for fiscal year 2010 funds ended June 25.
Those who were not approved or wish to sign up will be considered for funding in 2011.
The numbers are preliminary estimates and will be finalized later this summer after applications have been ranked.
Establishing Eligibility
Once your application is accepted, the next step is to work with your local NRCS office to establish eligibility and determine your ranking score.
The local NRCS staff will contact you to set up an interview. During the interview NRCS will use a software tool called the Conservation Management Tool to determine eligibility, rank CSP applicants relative to other applicants, and calculate payments.
You can save time by gathering some information in advance to answer questions about your operation.
You are eligible for CSP if you have control of the land and share in the risk of producing crops or livestock.
The applicant must be included on Farm Service Agency records for the enrolled land, as well as the landowner and operator.
On rented land, the applicant must be listed as the operator on FSA records and document they have control of the land through a lease or written agreement covering the five-year period of the contract.
Rented land where you have no control is not eligible for the program or payment.
The landowner must also be in compliance with highly erodible lands and wetlands provisions and the adjusted gross income limits.
In addition to these requirements, you must be already addressing at least one priority resource concern at the time of application and agree to adopt or install additional conservation activities to address at least one more priority resource concern during the contract period.
Target Priority
Resource Concerns
You can improve the chance of having a successful CSP application by focusing on activities that protect soil and water quality.
Each state NRCS office has selected specific priority resource concerns.
Targeting these resource concerns will improve your ranking score. Virginia Priority Resource Concerns include wildlife, plant health and vigor, soil erosion, soil quality and water quality.
Enhancements
Eligible applicants can choose among a wide variety of Enhancement Activities. Conservation enhancements are designed to treat natural resources and improve conservation performance.
An example of an enhancement is a grass type cover crop used to scavenge nitrogen left in the soil after a previous crop.
Enhancements add ranking points to the application and are new activities not yet adopted.
There are nearly 80 different enhancements available.
The point values differ for various enhancements. Applicants must have at least one enhancement in the first year of the contract for each land use.
You can find the different types of enhancements on the NRCS website at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/new_csp/2009_jobsheets.html.
Once ranked, applicants will be chosen by moving down the list of ranked applications until the program acreage limits for each state are reached.
The total national program acreage available is 12.8 million acres per year.
Payments
Payment amounts are determined by the 1) expected environmental benefits indicated by the Conservation Measurement Tool, 2) costs incurred by the farmer for planning, installing and maintaining the practice, and 3) income forgone by the producer as a result of the conservation activities.
The national average for CSP payments are expected to be $18 per acre but individual CSP payments will depend on the details of each contract.
Payments will vary by land use as well as the extent of managing and maintaining both new and existing practices.
Final Step
The final step in completing a successful contract development requires that NRCS visit the applicant’s farm to verify information provided in the application.
In addition, NRCS staff will ensure that a conservation stewardship plan with a record of the participant’s decisions and schedule for implementing conservation activities is developed.
Whether you have already applied for CSP or are just thinking about it for the coming year, NRCS staff are available to help you at your local USDA Service Center.
Or, you can find more information on line at www.nrcs.usda.gov.