Enrollment is now under way for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program, with an enrollment deadline of Sept. 30.

DCP is available on farms with a crop acreage base over 10 acres.

The new Farm Bill provides that producers on farms with DCP base acres that total 10 acres or less will not receive a direct, counter-cyclical, or average crop revenue election program payment, unless the farm is wholly owned by a socially disadvantaged or a limited resource farmer or rancher.

The new bill reauthorized DCP but specifically denied enrollment to farms with less than 10 base acres. It could be that a farm has 100 cropland acres but only has 7 acres of crop base. This farm is now ineligible.

Crop acreage bases are the average acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, barley and grain sorghum that were reported to FSA in 1998 to 2001.

Eligible farms for DCP may be in all hay for 2008. However, in prior years there was a history of planting a program crop.

Some producers feel this is not fair as they are now producing much more corn, for example, but the acreage base does not change. This means a 100 acre cropland farm with a 7 acre corn base is ineligible for DCP even if the entire 100 acres is planted with corn.

This is the way the bill was written, probably due to the possibility that in the mid-western states the farms are all base acres, which is not the case for most northeast states.

Since the new DCP does not permit updating base acres, farms that used to be in hay and are now planted to corn cannot receive corn base.

Producers need to communicate with their senators and members of Congress if they hope to have any changes in the way FSA administers DCP.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

The following information is provided by Natural Resources Conservation Office.

The deadline for accepting applications for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, EQIP, will be Aug. 29.

EQIP provides farmers with incentives to implement best management practices to treat farm related environmental concerns.

Eligible practices include: heavy use feeding pads, manure storage, nutrient management plans and rotational grazing systems.

With the high cost of fertilizer, producers who have untreated winter feeding areas or currently daily haul their manure should look closely at installing a feeding pad or manure storage.

Being able to collect and apply animal nutrients when crops can utilize them will not only benefit the environment but also improve animal health and reduce operation costs.

To be eligible for funding, producers should have an up-to-date conservation plan, engineer inventory and evaluation and nutrient management plan.

To be eligible for rotational grazing systems producers should be willing to convert at least 25 percent of their cropland to permanent pasture and have a prescribed grazing plan previously developed.

By implementing a rotational grazing system, producers will benefit from lower operational costs and improved farm productivity by converting marginal cropland to permanent grass.

The program also provides incentives to try cover crops following silage corn and conversion to no-till.

The cover crop incentive is a one-time payment. However, producers are eligible even if they are currently planting a cover crop. The no-till incentive is a three-year payment, eligible to producers who are currently no-tilling less than 50 percent of their rotation.

Producers who are currently plowing their fields should consider trying no-till, with the high cost of fuel. A 70 percent reduction in fuel costs can be seen from switching from conventional tillage to no-till.

EQIP incentives are high enough that participants should be able to hire a custom planter if the farm does not have no-till planting equipment.

Finally, EQIP also offers a small project category to help participants implement projects less than $15,000. This category is an excellent way to fund smaller practices such as existing pasture subdivision fence, spring developments and smaller barnyard practices.

Please contact the Butler NRCS office at 724-482-4800, Ext. 3 for more program details or a program application.

EQIP is designed to work with producers who are proactive in implementing best management practices. Contact our office if you would like more information on bettering your chances for program funding.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.