USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

The deadline for applying for the 2004 Grassland Reserve Program is July 23. The Grassland Reserve Program is designed to protect blocks of native range from conversion to residential or cropland use. New to the Grassland Reserve Program application process for 2004 is a screening tool to prioritize applications into a high, medium or low priority. Only the high priority applications will be ranked and considered for funding. There are two priority screening items that are having adverse effects on many of our local GRP applications. One of the priority screening items is the proximity of the rangeland to cropland. If any edge of the rangeland is one mile or less to cropland (current cropland, CRP or old go-back land that is still carried as cropland on FSA records) it becomes a medium priority application. Another screening item that has been dropping some local applications out of the high category is the requirement that all of the land in the application must be native range that has never been plowed. Contact the NRCS or FSA office for questions about this program.

The Kiowa County Conservation District is hosting a public meeting on Thursday, July 29 at 9:00 AM in the Kiowa County Courthouse meeting room. This meeting is to solicit recommendations for EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) for the 2005 program year and also to get input on the Long Range Plan for the Kiowa County Conservation District. The EQIP program follows policy developed at the local watershed level (Lower Arkansas Watershed) on the distribution of available funds among different resource issues such as grazing land, soil erosion, water quality, wildlife and animal waste. Other EQIP guidelines set at the local level include contract and/or practice limits, and cost share rates. Kiowa County Conservation District is also requesting input to develop a long range plan for 2005 through 2010 as to what are the important local resource issues and concerns and how the local Conservation District can address those issues.

The Ag Risk Protection Act requires FSA to assist the Risk Management Agency (RMA) improve the integrity of the crop insurance program. We have been asked to monitor the program, report problems to RMA and assist RMA and insurance providers when auditing certain claims. FSA will refer all suspected cases of fraud, waste, and abuse to RMA. You are encouraged to report suspected cases for fraud or abuse to our office. We are not involved with the decision making process, we are merely assisting RMA by gathering facts and reporting observations as they pertain to weather and crop plantings, maintenance and harvest.

The NRCS staff is currently conducting field checks on all CRP contracts that do not have established grass stands. There are about 22,000 acres of CRP in Kiowa County that do not have grass stands adequate to control erosion and compete successfully with weeds. We are finding many tracts are greatly improved from last year and the grass, especially the sideoats grama, is producing good seed yields for the first time in several years. We are also finding some tracts that have suffered grass die off due to drought. The weakened grass stands have given opportunity for increased weed growth this year so check for needed weed control even on tracts that have had fair to good grass stands.