(Nashville, TN)?The U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking applications for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). The program encourages producers to address resource concerns in a comprehensive manner by installing and adopting new conservation activities, and by improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities.

State Conservationist Kevin Brown says the new CSP will result in conservation benefits statewide. ?CSP has been expanded throughout Tennessee this year,? Brown said. ?The benefits of the program assist in addressing global climate change; improving our water and soil quality; and encouraging environmentally responsible energy production. We hope that agriculture and forestry producers in Tennessee take full advantage of the benefits this newly revised program offers.? CSP offers continuous sign-up, but the first application cutoff for ranking purposes is scheduled for Sept. 30.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) authorized the Conservation Stewardship Program. Congress renamed and revamped the former Conservation Security Program completely to improve its availability and appeal to agricultural and forestry producers. The maximum annual enrollment is capped at nearly 12.8 million acres nationwide.

NRCS administers CSP, a voluntary conservation program designed to encourage producers to adopt additional conservation practices and improve, maintain and manage existing ones. To apply for the newly revamped CSP, producers are encouraged to use a self-screening checklist first to determine whether the new program is suitable for them or their operation. The checklist is available on NRCS Web sites and at NRCS field offices.

A producer must treat at least one resource concern and one priority resource concern during the length of the five-year CSP contract. Tennessee has selected four priority resource concerns that will be used to rank applications: Plants; animals; soil erosion; and water quality.

CSP offers two types of payments?annual and supplemental. Annual payments are available for installing additional conservation activities as scheduled and for maintaining existing activities. Supplemental payments are available for participants receiving annual payment who also adopt a resource-conserving crop rotation. The annual payment limitation for a person or legal entity is $40,000. A person or legal entity cannot exceed $200,000 for all contracts entered into during any five-year period.

Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, improved pastureland, and non-industrial private forestland?a new land use for the program.

Land enrolled in the Conservation Security Program, Conservation Reserve Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program is ineligible for the new Conservation Stewardship Program.

For more information about CSP, please visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/new_csp/. For more information about conservation programs in Tennessee, please visit www.tn.nrcs.usda.gov/. Or you can come by the USDA Service Center located at 237 Waterloo Street, Lawrenceburg or call 931-762-6913 ext 3. NRCS is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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