Conservation Dollars Available for Florida Farmers
Posted September 8, 2014 08:10 am
Escambia County farm.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Time is quickly running out for
Florida farmers who want to continue receiving federal
assistance to improve soil, water, air and habitat on
their land. Since the Conservation Stewardship Program
was launched five years ago, more than 60-million farm
acres nationwide have been enrolled. Sophia Kruszewski,
policy specialist with the
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, says the
program isn't about helping farmers avoid environmental
harm; it's about enhancing and improving what
conservation-minded farmers already do.
"Maybe they started doing a little cover-cropping, but
they really want to get more into a full suite of
resource-conserving crop rotations," Kruszewski says.
"Maybe they've done some improvements in the way they're
managing their livestock, but they want to start looking
at rotational grazing."
The Conservation Stewardship Program, created in the
2008 Farm Bill, has been reauthorized and strengthened.
The roughly 20,000 farmers with five-year contracts up
for renewal must do so by Sept. 12 at the nearest office
of the
Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Kruszewski calls the program a win-win for the
environment and for farmers, and says the program
represents a new, forward-thinking vision of American
agriculture.
"We're really seeing a strong focus on the need to
support farmers," Kruszewski says. "Not only to have
productive, viable farms and ranches, but also be able
to work those farms with an eye toward natural-resource
conservation. "
Kruszewski says new farmers interested in the program
can submit an application at any time, with NRCS
collecting and ranking the applications once per year,
typically in February.
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