Producers Stand to Lose Farm Program Benefits

Colchester, VT…..Planning to grow more corn in response to rising grain prices?

If you are a producer seeking to capitalize on current grain prices or to reduce your costs of purchased feed, your plan could have serious implications in terms of USDA program benefits. The 1985 Farm Bill includes conservation compliance requirements for farmers who cultivate land classified as Highly Erodible (Sodbuster) or wetlands (Swampbuster).

According to Judith Doerner, state conservationist for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), agricultural producers could lose federal farm program benefits if they convert wetlands to make crop production possible. They may also lose benefits if they produce crops on highly erodible land without applying an approved conservation system.

Soil and wetland conservation compliance provisions require certain resource conservation activities in return for benefits from selected federal agricultural programs. Producers who violate these conservation provisions may be denied price and income support benefits, including Milk Income Loss Contract payments, Conservation Reserve Program payments, Environmental Quality Incentive Program payments, eligibility for federal agriculture-related loans or loan guarantees, and other benefits from agriculture-related federal programs.

Since 1985, the wetland conservation provisions have sharply reduced wetland conversions for agricultural uses. Swampbuster helps preserve the environmental functions of wetlands, such as flood control, sediment control, groundwater recharge, water quality, wildlife habitat, recreation, and esthetics. The Highly Erodible Land Provisions have prevented millions of tons of soil loss, ensured the future productivity of our farmland and have prevented sedimentation of our rivers and bays.

Before you make any cropping changes to your farm operation, be sure that you are in compliance. Plans to produce annual crops on land where annual crops have not previously been planted, or to change approved crop rotations, should be discussed with the staff at the NRCS or Farm Service Agency field office located in your local USDA Service Center.

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