REGINA — The American conservation reserve program has been more successful than many thought it would be, a North Dakota soil conservationist told a conference here last week.
The voluntary program which paid farmers to take highly erodible land out of production has shown many benefits, including improved water quality, enhanced fish and wildlife habitat and increased timber supply, said Eugene Schock.
Soil loss on highly erodible land dropped from 14.5 tonnes each year to five tonnes. Residue use is on the rise, Schock told the interprovincial soil and water conservation planning workshop.
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The program dealt only with land identified as highly erodible.
“Not all of the land requires a plan, so a big segment of the population doesn’t have those strings attached,” Schock said.
A farmer with highly erodible land has to keep a certain amount of residue cover, while his neighbor across the road may not have to — even if it would be a good practice.
Schock admitted that in North Dakota land ended up in the program even though it wasn’t designated highly erodible.
“My personal opinion is that we should have, as an agency (Soil Conservation Service), stuck to the original plan. Everyone wanted to jump on the bandwagon,” he said.
The program provided a cash payment for 10 years and some farmers over 55 thought ” ‘Hey, this is a perfect retirement program for me’,” said Schock.
Possible extension
Nationally, about 70 percent of the conservation plans have been implemented. The plans were supposed to be developed by 1990 and activated by 1995. The first contracts expire next year and Schock said there is talk about extending them, along with the payments.
In a new farm bill in 1995, Shock said he expects to see a Clean Water Act, and specific legislation dealing with water, its management and wetlands.
