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Wisconsin CREP signup window running out soon

Time is running out for Wisconsin farmers to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

Brian Loeffelholz with Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection tells Brownfield this year, USDA’s Farm Service Agency is watching enrollments closely to prevent going over the 28-million acre national cap in the twice-extended 2018 Farm Bill. “This year is going to be kind of a rush because we have three weeks essentially to get the enrollments in, but typically for CREP, it’s considered a continous sign-up period where landowners have the majority of the year to sign up.”

Loeffelholz says every state operates their CREP programs differently, and Wisconsin puts an emphasis on protecting surface and groundwater. “The program provides landowners and producers an opportunity to voluntarily place agricultural land along streams, lakes, ditches, and wetlands with known resource concerns into water quality-focused conservation practices.”

Loeffelholz says those practices focus on reducing soil erosion and nutrient runoff from entering adjacent waters.   He says landowners receive payments from both federal and state governments for installing grass filter strips, forest buffers, and grass waterways. “For CREP, they offer 50% cost share plus the state offers 20% cost share on top of it, so for all of our practices, we’ll offer 70% cost share for the installation but then there’s an additional negotiated what they call practice incentive payment for certain practices that pays almost up to 100% of the cost of the installation.”

Loeffelholz says in Wisconsin, landowners can enroll in either a 15-year contract with annual payments, a perpetual conservation easement, or a combination of the two options.  He says payments for the perpetual easement are considerably higher.

Wisconsin has about one-thousand acres that are eligible for re-enrollment in CREP this year.  Loeffelholz says there is no cost for FSA to evaluate the farm for possible enrollment opportunities.  He says with the looming acreage cap, farmers considering any conservation reserve program should quickly arrange to see their FSA office.