Stories

A federal program designed to protect environmentally sensitive farmland may be losing some of its luster.

Thousands of U.S. farmers have a decision to make this month, as they must choose to either keep their acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) or put those acres into crop production.

Implementation of the new farm bill will ultimately be handed off to the next presidential administration, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said at a press conference in Iowa Thursday.

Schafer told agriculture reporters at the 2008 Farm Progress Show that the implementation of the new farm bill is “going well,” with the work about two weeks ahead of schedule.

A total of $87.5 million in Emergency Conservation Program funds will be distributed between 34 states that were affected by natural disasters, announced U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer Thursday. Iowa will receive $12,208,500, the largest amount of the 34 states.

The nation’s largest outdoor agricultural expo is set to be held next week in Iowa.
The 2008 Farm Progress Show returns to Iowa this year, in an all-new location near Boone. The event runs from Aug. 26-28, with more than 500 exhibitors showing farm equipment and technology.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer is expected to visit [...]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has backed away from a proposal to release more conservation lands for crop production.