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Alabama Farmers Approved for $910,540 in Contracts in New USDA Program

Auburn, Ala, July 27, 2005

Reward the best and motivate the rest!  That was the message that conservation partners from across the state, who gathered on the beef farm of Morgan County livestock producer Thornton Stanley, heard yesterday.  Stanley hosted an event to celebrate the initiation of the Conservation Security Program (CSP) in Alabama. CSP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to promote the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy, and plant and animal life on Tribal and private working lands. USDA Deputy Under Secretary Merlyn Carlson was on hand to participate in the celebration.

 

Wheeler Lake Watershed, which encompasses eight counties in north Alabama and four counties in south central Tennessee, was among 202 watersheds across the nation invited to participate in the CSP program in 2005.  In Wheeler Lake Watershed, 56 Alabama producers were awarded contracts amounting to $910,540.

 

“Thousands of Alabama farmers are committed to doing the hard day-to-day work of making the right choices for the land and other natural resources that they manage. They don’t boast about it and they don’t often get much recognition, but CSP is a step towards rewarding the work they do,” said Gary Kobylski, Alabama NRCS State Conservationist. “Furthermore, these proven stewards are good candidates for our nation to invest in to further improve the resources that sustain our families, our communities and our landscapes.”

 

“As an agency, NRCS has helped farmers and ranchers fix conservation problems, such as soil erosion or water conservation, since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s,” said Kobylski.  “The Conservation Security Program, however, represents a new direction in conservation and agricultural policy and programs. These payments for long-term stewardship will reward many of those who undertook conservation on their own initiative and who care for the resources that we all share.”

 

CSP will continue to be offered each year, on a rotational basis, in as many watersheds as funding allows. For more information on CSP and other NRCS programs see http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/.

 

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