Eight Reasons For Getting A Conservation Plan Now
LEES PORT If jipu plan to
farm highly erodible cropland
after December 31, 1989 and
retain your eligibility for USDA
benefits, there arc at least eight
good reasons why you should get
your conservation plan prepared
and approved as early this year as
possible.
Robert Heidecker, state resour
ce conservationist for the USDA
Soil Conservation Service in
Pennsylvania, said the Food Sec
urity Act of 1985 requires conser
vation plans for highly erodible
cropland by the end of 1989 to
maintain USDA farm program
benefits. “What every fanner
needs to realize is that they need to
start actively applying the plan
with the 1990 crop,” Heidecker
said. “You have until December
31,1994 to complete the planned
practices.”
“Wait until January 1, 1990 or
later to get a plan approved and
you could find yourself having to
get the entire plan completely
installed before producing the
next agricultural commodity crop
and have USDA program bene
fits.” added Heidecker. Since a
conservation plan usually takes
five or more years to apply, the
farmer could be without USDA
program benefits for a period of
time if he waits until 1990 or later
to get his plan.
Heidecker explained these rea
sons for getting a conservation
plan immediately: 1. USDA cost
share assistance will probably
become short during the early
1990 s because of the demands
created by recent planning. The
sooner you get your plan and app
ly for cost share, the better.
2. If your plan calls for a crop
rotation of high residue crops
every few years, any such crops
grown in 1989 in accordance with
a plan, count as a part of your rota
tion for the same years. Wait until
after December 31 to get your
conservation plan and the crops
you grow this year may not count.
3. If you lease or rent land to
others or from others, both the ten
ant and the landlord need to know
well in advance the conservation
treatment needed for staying eligi
ble for farm program benefits. If
the needed treatments are expen
sive and the landlord is not willing
to pay part of the cost, some ren
ters wiU not be fanning that land
after 1990.
4. If the practices needed are
expensive, you might prefer to bid
the land into the Conservation
Reserve program. By putting the
land in continuous grass or trees,
an annual rental payment would
be received from USDA for 10
years.
S. Serious soil erosion problenfS
may require detailed engineering
surveys before conservation treat
ment needs can be determined.
Some of this expertise may be
located in regional offices miles
from the county. Scheduling of
this type assistance is already
backlogged in some counties. The
longer that planning is delayed,
the greater the prospect of further
delays in the planning and appli
cation process. Farmers who wait
until late 1989 will probably find
it impossible to get assistance
before the December 31, 1989
deadline.
6. If the plan you choose
includes a crop rotation with a
high residue crop for which you
have no base acreage, you may
need to ask the local Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation
Service office to let you exchange
one base crop for another. The
exchange could require the
approval of more than one USDA
agency, which can take several
weeks. Farmers who wait lose
again!
7. In some counties the Soil
Conservation Service does not
have enough personnel to handle
the present workload. Those who
wait until mid-summer will find
many farmers ahead of them wait
ing for planning help. Farmers
who do not get their plan prepared
and approved before December
31, 1989, will probably lose at
least one or two years of USDA
program eligibility.
8. Conservation plans need to
be approved by county conserva
tion districts. Most districts meet
once per month. Waiting past the
November conservation district
meeting is risky.
Goodling Schedules Hearing
On Vocational Education
Lancaster Fwmtng Saturday, March 11, 1989-D3l
Under the sodbuster provision
of the Act, farmers who plow out
highly erodible grassland and
plant it to a crop lose all program
benefits unless the land is pro
tected Grom excessive erosion the
year the first crop is produced.
Under swampbuster provisions,
farmers lose the same benefits if
they alter or plant wetlands to a
crop.
At the present time, conserva
tion planning is complete on 68
percent of the highly erodible
cropland in Pennsylvania, states
Heidecker. Out of 1.68 million
acres of highly erodible cropland,
plans have been prepared and
approved for about one million
acres.
If you are one of the farmers
whose highly erodible cropland is
not under a conservation plan, it is
to your advantage to contact the
USDA Soil Conservation Service
office before Spring and request
planning assistance.
WASHINGTON. DC Con
gressman Bill Goodling (PA-19)
and Chairman Augustus Hawkins
will lead the House of Representa
tives’ Education and Labor Com
mittee to southcentral Pennsylva
nia to hold a Congressional hear
ing on federal vocational
education programs Monday,
March 13, at 9:30 a.m. at the York
Area Vocational Technical
School.
“This hearing will give Con
gress an opportunity to hear from
the people who deal with these
programs on a daily basis and to
leant more about vocational edu
cation in a real-life setting,”
Goodling said. “By holding the
hearing in York, we are giving
southcentral Pennsylvania a voice
in federal voc-ed programs. This
is an opportunity for local educa
tors, businessmen and others
interested in vocational education
to tell us what’s working, what
isn’t and what improvements they
would like to see. They can help
us restructure the program to best
serve students and the workforce
now and into the next decade.”
During the hearings, members
of the Education and Labor Com
mittee will hear testimony from
local educators, representatives of
business and labor, and state and
local officials. Afterwards, Com
mittee members will tour York
Vo-Tech.
“Vocational education is a vital
opportunity for our students and a
tremendous resource for our eco
nomy,” Goodling noted. “Ameri
can business can not afford to live
in the past, and neither can Ameri
can vocational education. Our
voc-ed programs must keep pace
with the realities of today's stu
dents and the demands of today’s
workplace.”
Federal vocational education
programs are aimed at providing
funding and direction to the states
in an effort to help them improve
their vocational education pro
grams and to help ensure access to
quality programs for all
individuals.
Goodling and Hawkins arc
Ranking Minority Member and
Chairman, respectively, of the
House Education and Labor Com
mittee.