INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The National Grain and Feed Assoc. (NGFA), American Farm Bureau Federation, cotton growers and other ag groups are urging the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee to consider taking acreage out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as it begins drafting the 2012 farm bill this month.

The NGFA said there is “compelling evidence” that millions of acres of productive farmland currently idled in the CRP are suitable for row-crop production and are needed to meet growing demand for food, feed, biofuel and exports.

A Natural Resources Inventory report published in 2009 by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service – containing 2007 data, the most recent available – indicated more than 7.1 million acres of “prime farmland” (Land Classes 1 and 2) were enrolled in the CRP at that time.

“This includes some land that does not even require the use of a conservation plan to be farmed,” the NGFA noted. “The idling of productive resources through land-idling conservation programs costs jobs, stymies growth and, in the case of land resources, has the potential to impact negatively the cost and availability of food and feed.”

Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock said farm groups were to meet with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) yesterday for an update on the Senate’s work on the farm bill, which is progressing faster than the House version.

Lugar proposed last year that the maximum enrollment in CRP acres be reduced from 32 million to 24 million, phased in over three years. Farmers would have the option for a no-penalty early opt-out to remove 8 million acres from CRP.

“Most of the farm groups are in a general agreement that with impending budget cuts, there should be less money for conservation,” Villwock said. “The prime farmland should be brought back into production as long as it is not environmentally sensitive land.”

He stressed if money is to be taken out of conservation, it should be out of CRP rather than other conservation efforts such as grass waterways, buffer strips and the like.

The NGFA said idling productive U.S. crop acres is contrary to environmental protection on a global basis because it encourages shifts in agricultural production to South America and other countries that do not have the same level of environmental protection, regulations and sound agronomic farming practices as exist in the United States.

“Advancements in seed, tillage and other agronomic practices have resulted in more U.S. acreage being environmentally sustainable for row-crop production, a dramatic change from when the CRP was established under the 1985 farm law,” the NGFA stated.

Agriculture groups noted CRP stymies the ability of young and tenant farmers to start in production agriculture, which it called a “particularly acute concern” given the aging demographics of the nation’s agricultural producers.

“Rather than rent or sell, many landowners choose to reap CRP rental payments, creating another barrier for young and tenant farmers who are struggling to expand and build economic-sized operations,” the NGFA said.

The United Nations has projected a 70 percent increase in food production will be needed by 2050, as world population increases to 9 billion people. 

Villwock said there is also pressure from livestock producers to increase production of grain.

“I have empathy for them, as demand is growing for meat around the world,” he said. “I believe we can farm in an environmentally responsible way and still meet the demand.”

Farm groups specifically urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to include in the next farm bill statutory language that would:

•Reduce the current 32-million-acre maximum CRP cap. At a minimum, the NGFA said Land Classes 1 and 2 should be prohibited from future enrollments and reenrollments. This land can be farmed in an environmentally sustainable way to meet growing food demand, the NGFA said.

•Eliminate the discretion for USDA to exceed the 25 percent limit on CRP enrollments in individual counties, and include within the 25 percent county limit at least a 5 percent allowance for acres enrolled in the wetlands reserve and continuous signup process.

•Mandate that USDA permit penalty-free early outs of Land Classes 1, 2 and 3 enrolled in CRP, provided that producers doing so are required to implement prudent conservation practices on such lands.

•Restrict whole-field and whole-farm enrollments by subjecting such land to a more stringent environmental benefits index (EBI) scoring threshold than partial-field enrollments.

The NGFA also encouraged Congress to include, as part of the farm bill process, language that would provide the following guidance to USDA in its implementation and administration of the CRP program in the future:  freeze CRP rental rates for 3-5 years or implement a percentage-based limit on rental rates paid for CRP land, compared to average county rental rates so young and beginning farmers are not forced to compete against the government for acres; and limit the number of CRP general signups offered.