USDA is expanding a national conservation program so that Indiana farmers across all 92 counties can participate.
“First of all, in Indiana we do conservation right,” says Julia Wickard, Indiana’s Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Both USDA and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) are teaming up to promote enrollment into the Indiana Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program—or CREP—to producers throughout the entire state.
To celebrate the expansion of CREP in Indiana, a ceremonial signing of the expansion was held at Zolman Farms near Pierceton in Kosciusko County on Wednesday afternoon with Wickard, along with Zach Ducheneaux, USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator, and Don Lamb, Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).
“Back in 2010, we had a revision of our CREP agreement. At that time, we went to 65 counties [in Indiana] and we always thought that wasn’t enough and that we needed to get to all counties in Indiana,” she says. “We’re excited that we’re able to do that, and we’re going to be authorized to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program beginning Oct. 1.”
In exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from production and setting up a permanent resource conserving plant species, producers who voluntarily sign up are paid an annual rental rate along with other federal and non-federal incentives as part of their CREP agreement.
“It’s a true economic driver, when we think about wildlife habitat, when we think about water quality improvements, when we talk about leveraging state and federal and local resources together to ultimately move the needle to accomplish those things, we do it right in our state,” says Wickard.
“Water quality, soil health, species diversity—all of those things are going to help us in the long run continue to be able to fully produce on the lands that should be in production, while giving producers an alternative for some of the land that they may have been struggling to produce on,” says Zach Ducheneaux, USDA FSA Administrator.
Currently, CREP has 40 projects in 26 states. In total, more than 678,000 acres are enrolled in CREP.
The Indiana CREP, currently encompassing more than 22,400 acres, is part of USDA’s broader effort to leverage CREP as an important tool to expand conservation efforts throughout the state.
How can Indiana farmers learn more about the program through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency?
“I would encourage producers who are interested in the program to visit their county’s FSA office, and we will be glad to work alongside them to get conservation on their land and on their farm,” she says.
You may also e-mail Nathalie Nemitz, Central Regional Specialist, for more information about partnering with USDA for CREP at nathalie.nemitz@usda.gov.
