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Senator Donnelly urges continued support of CRP

Indiana senator Joe Donnelly visits with attendees of Ham Breakfast

A bipartisan group of Senators are encouraging Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to emphasize continued support for the Conservation Reserve Program to Congress.  Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly and South Dakota Senator John Thune are leading the effort.

Senator Donnelly says the Conservation Reserve Program is vital to American agriculture.  “It does terrific things for our environment,” he says.  “It also provides another opportunity for the ag community to raising crops on less productive, environmentally sensitive land.  It’s a win-win – and we wanted to make sure the Secretary understood that.”

Over 24 million acres have already been enrolled in to CRP this year.  He tells Brownfield the Senators also want to ensure eligible landowners have adequate periods for enrollment.  “We haven’t filled the entire allotment yet,” he says.  “We’re close and we think it is a great opportunity to inform our ag community that this is available and to make sure they know and have every opportunity to sign up.”

Twelve Senators signed on to the letter.

Indiana – U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly
South Dakota – U.S. Senator John Thune
South Dakota – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds
Minnesota – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
Ohio – U.S. Senator Rob Portman
Wisconsin – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin
Montana
– U.S. Senator Jon Tester
Montana – U.S. Senator Steve Daines
Massachusetts – U.S. Senator Edward Markey
Colorado – U.S. Senator Michael Bennet
Oklahoma – U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe
Oregon – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden

  • Fifteen years ago I planted trees on high erosion cropland in northeast Indiana. I got the magnaminous sum of $2,540 for 15 years — my trees are not ready for harvest for at least another 15 to 20 years. This is not a lot of money, but it paid the farm taxes, and I was happy. My acres were up for renewable this past year, only to be told the CRP program for trees was GONE — so now I am stuck with 34 acres of trees and no money to pay the ever increasing property taxes, not to mention trying to be a good steward to the land by enrolling in a program I was told at the time was renewable until the trees were old enough to harvest. You betcha I am angry. I feel even more sorry for one of my neighbors that really, really needed that yearly payment for his trees. What they did was wrong, especially for those that invested in trees and were just abandoned after fifteen years. I have no idea how I will pay my property taxes next year, since I now have no income from this program that I was told at the time I signed up for it over fifteen years ago that it was renewable. I can understand not authorizing new acres in trees, but the ones that were already in the program and up for renewal should have been able to renew!

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