USDA STREAMLINES CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2002-- Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced today that USDA has streamlined and sim plified the administrative concurrence processes for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), each of which benefits humans, wildlife and the environment overall.

"We are trying to cut the red tape to get the job done and enable producers to participate in our conservation programs in a timely manner," Veneman said. " This kind of teamwork among USDA agencies is particularly critical as we implement the new Farm Bill . We will continue to look for ways we can improve our systems to help producers."

USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which administer CRP and EQIP respectively, worked together to streamline concurrence and will soon be issuing administrative guidance. The streamlined concurrence processes, which will save valuable time at the county level and reduce duplicative efforts, allow NRCS or FSA the flexibility to proceed without the formal approval of the other agency. This removes a time-consuming step in the implementation process and will allow the agencies to operate more efficiently. This is important, considering both agencies are now aggressively working to implement the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Act), which includes a number of new programs and benefits under the Conservation Title.

The 2002 Act, signed into law May 13, provides more than $17 billion in funding for conservation. In addition, it increases the acreage that can be enrolled in CRP from 36.4 million to 39.2 million acres and increases EQIP funding to $6.1 billion.

The CRP is a voluntary USDA conservation program that encourages farmers to plant long-term resource-conserving covers to improve soil, water and wildlife resources. USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, administered by FSA, makes available cost-share assistance in an amount equal to not more than 50 percent of the participant's costs in establishing approved practices. NRCS, Cooperative State Research and Education Extension Service, State forestry agencies and local soil and water conservation districts provide technical support for CRP.

EQIP is a voluntary USDA conservation program for farmers and ranchers to treat identified soil, water and related natural resource concerns on eligible land. It provides technical and financial assistance to eligible producers.

Additional information is available on the USDA Web site at http://www.usda.gov/farmbill .

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