For Immediate Release May 19, 2004 Contact: Ferd Hoefner or Martha Noble (202)-547-5754 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE COALITION RESPONDS TO USDA SELECTION OF CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM WATERSHEDS WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, the Bush Administration announced its selection of the few watersheds where a small number of farmers and ranchers will be eligible for the Conservation Security Program (CSP) this year. Earlier this month, the Administration announced its intent to make permanent this drastic narrowing of the CSP, even though the budget cap of $41 million imposed on the program is lifted at the beginning of the new fiscal year in October. With its constricted approach, the Administration plans to block the implementation of the CSP as provided in the 2002 Farm Bill, as a nationwide program for all farmers and ranchers who practice effective conservation and environmental protection through the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensive approach to farm and ranch management. "The USDA has prepared a map of the U.S. with the watersheds it selected for the CSP which dramatically illustrates the Administration's short-sighted approach to the program. Huge areas on this map are completely blank, including most of the southwest, and all of New England. Major agricultural states such as California and Florida, also draw a blank. In the entire mid-Atlantic region, only one watershed is on the map," said Martha Noble, a policy analyst with the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. "USDA tries to cover over the deficiencies of its restrictive implementation with an estimate that over 27,000 farms and ranches and 14 million acres are within the selected watersheds. But the USDA's restrictive approach to CSP farmer and rancher eligibility means that even in these few selected "priority" watersheds, most of these farms and ranches and agricultural acres will be excluded from the CSP." USDA estimates that it has received over 14,000 comments on the CSP from around the nation, including farmers, ranchers, agricultural organizations, environmental organizations, state and local agencies, and thousands of citizens concerned that federal agricultural dollars be used to reward the nation's best conservation farmers and ranchers and provide meaningful incentives for those who want to improve their agricultural systems. With a very few exceptions, these comments opposed the USDA's proposed watershed approach for CSP implementation. "The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition urges the Administration to show its support for the future of the CSP by issuing a program rule for a comprehensive, nationwide approach with adequate incentives for farmer and rancher participation," said Noble. "It is not too late for USDA to show leadership and commitment to the future of the CSP by issuing a rule for the CSP as the nationwide, comprehensive environmental program intended by Congress in the 2002 farm bill." The Conservation Security Program is a comprehensive stewardship incentives program that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to reward them for investments of labor, management, and capital aimed at fostering healthy, productive, and non-eroding soils, clean air and water, energy savings, wildlife habitat, and prairie, wetland, and other ecosystem restorations. Unlike the US commodity programs which are under attack in the WTO, the CSP is a trade rule-compliant "green box" program aimed not at increasing production but rather at maximizing long-term environmental benefits. The sustainable agriculture community was a leading proponent of the initiative during the 2002 Farm Bill debate and continues to monitor implementation closely. --30-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]