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New Conservation Security Program Payments Can Be Used for IPM - April 2005

March 31, 2005

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - A new conservation program will offer payments to farmers in exchange for enhancing watersheds and protecting the environment.

The Conservation Security Program (CSP) will be available to approximately 235,000 farmers and ranchers in 220 watersheds nationwide. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will administer the program, which reimburses growers on working lands for various conservation practices, including integrated pest management.

Integrated pest management, or IPM, aims to manage pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible.

According to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, CSP is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private, agricultural working lands and rewards those producers who are meeting the highest standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations. "This is a unique program that offers payments for enhancing natural resources, rewards those farmers and ranchers who are model conservationists and provides incentives for other producers to meet those same high standards of environmental performance," says Johanns.

Payments can include four components: 1) an annual stewardship component for the base level of conservation treatment, 2) an annual component for maintenance of existing conservation practices, 3) a one-time new practice component for additional needed practices, and 4) an enhancement component for exceptional conservation effort. Enhancement activities could include limiting pesticide applications through IPM implementation, total farm energy audits, shelterbelts for wildlife and air quality, and riparian forest buffers for restoring critical stream habitat.

According to Kelly Ireland, CSP manager in Pennsylvania, the program began last year with the Raystown watershed being one of eighteen pioneer watersheds nationwide. "The program in Raystown last year was very successful and created a lot of interest, with thirty-six contracts being signed. This is the first year the program will be implemented with watersheds nationwide," says Ireland.

The new watersheds in Pennsylvania for the 2005 CSP program include the Lower Susquehanna-Swatara Watershed (in Franklin, Cumberland, Perry, Dauphin, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, Schuylkill and Berks Counties), the Schuylkill Watershed (in Schuylkill, Lebanon, Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Philadelphia and Delaware Counties) and the Chester-Sassafras (in Chester County). Producers in the Raystown Watershed have another opportunity to sign up this year. Sign-ups for the program will be held from March 28 through May 27. To apply for CSP, NRCS asks potential participants to complete a self-assessment workbook available on the Web or from their local NRCS offices-to determine if their operation meets the requirements of the program and qualifies for program participation. The self-assessment process is completed using a self-screening questionnaire for each land use to be enrolled.

When this process is completed, the producer submits the workbook to the local NRCS office during the sign-up period and meets with NRCS personnel to go over any additional needed documentation. NRCS will then determine which enrollment category the producer qualifies for and selects the categories to be funded through CSP.

Additional information on CSP in Pennsylvania, including eligible watersheds, self-assessment workbook, and a schedule of community meetings about the program is available on the Web at http://www.pa.nrcs.usda.gov/.

The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/. To view our archived news releases, see Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/10.htm.