CLINTON ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO INSTALL CONSERVATION
                                                                               
                                                            Release No. 0125.97
                                                                               
                                                   Jim Petterson (202) 720-4623
                                                   Mary Cressel  (202) 690-0547


CLINTON ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO INSTALL CONSERVATION BUFFERS

    WASHINGTON, April 21, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today announced
that USDA is committed to helping landowners install 2 million miles of conservation
buffers by the year 2002.  This is the goal of a new public-private partnership called
the National Conservation Buffer Initiative.

    "This initiative will make an historic contribution to the health of our farms,
rural communities, our waterways, and all who rely on them," said Glickman. 
"Agricultural producers and other landowners who install buffers can improve soil, air,
and water quality; enhance wildlife habitat; restore biodiversity; and create scenic
landscapes.  "This is a good deal for U. S. producers and America and it sends the right
message as we celebrate Earth Day."

    The National Conservation Buffer Initiative is a multi-year effort led by the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in cooperation with other USDA agencies--including the Farm Service Agency, Cooperative Extension Service, and Forest Service--state conservation agencies, conservation districts, agribusinesses, and agricultural
and environmental organizations.  

    Six national agricultural corporations have pledged nearly $1 million over the
next three years to complement USDA's efforts to promote conservation buffers.  The
National Corn Growers Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and other
groups are working with the corporations--Cargill, ConAgra, Farmland Industries,
Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, and Terra Industries--to help educate,
encourage, and enable producers to install buffers.

    The conservation programs in the 1996 Farm Bill make conservation buffers timely. 
The continuous signup for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is an opportunity to
use buffers to protect the most fragile areas of a farm.  Producers do not have to make
an all-or-nothing choice about bringing land out of CRP--they can crop the best and put
the rest in buffer strips.  If the whole field is not accepted for CRP, they may
consider establishing buffers and enrolling them into the CRP through the continuous
signup program.  The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program; Wetlands Reserve Program;
Environmental Quality Incentives Program; and other Federal, State, and local programs
also offer both technical and financial help in establishing buffers.

    "This initiative is an effort to use grasses and trees to protect and enhance all
the resources on a farm.  It's an attempt to help producers not only maintain their
best land in crop production but also to make good use of marginal land," said Glickman.
"Conservation buffers can be a key to maintaining a healthy, productive farm."

    Healthy farms produce much more than crops and livestock, and using buffers is an
excellent way to ensure clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, better air quality, and
other environmental benefits.  Buffer strips are common sense conservation.



    Conservation buffers are areas or strips of land maintained in permanent
vegetation and designed to intercept pollutants.  Buffers can be installed along
streams or in uplands--within crop fields, at the edge of crop fields, or outside the
margins of a field.  Buffers are most effective when used in combination with other
conservation measures--such as conservation tillage, nutrient management, and
integrated pest management--as part of a planned conservation system.  Buffers can also
be used at strategic locations on nonagricultural landscapes, including urban areas.

                                    
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