The Minnesota Land Stewardship Project is encouraging ag producers to sign up for the NRCS’s Conservation Stewardship Program. LSP Policy Program Organizer Tom Nuessmeier says while the CSP deadline for the next round of funding is March 2, producers should sign up as soon as possible.
He says CSP is the largest working lands program available to farmers and results in not only environmental benefits but also incentives for producers.
Nuessmeier says one of his group’s major concerns is that CSP has been targeted for federal budget cuts so his group is encouraging farmers to talk to their Congress people about the importance of keeping CSP viable.
Currently 72 million acres nationally are enrolled in CSP which represents roughly 8 percent of all agricultural land. The 2014 Farm Bill reduced the CSP annual enrollment from 12.8 million acres to 10 million acres.
