NSAC's Blog
CSP 2010 Sign-Up Results and Payment Announcement
November 5, 2010
On November 5, USDA announced that it will begin this month to issue Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) payments to FY 2010 contract holders. USDA will pay $320 million for the 20,500 CSP contracts enrolled during the 2009 and 2010 sign-ups, and will pay an additional $180 million in FY 2011 payments to honor 15,000 Conservation Security Program contracts from the original CSP program in the 2002 Farm Bill. According to USDA, most farmers and ranchers will receive their payments before the end of the calendar year.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a comprehensive working lands conservation program that provides technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to actively manage and maintain existing conservation systems and to implement additional conservation activities on land in agricultural production. The Conservation Stewardship Program replaced the older Conservation Security Program in the 2008 farm bill; however, USDA will continue to honor Conservation Security Program contracts until those contracts expire.
Sign-up for CSP is continuous, which means farmers and ranchers anywhere in the country can apply for the CSP any year and at any time of the year. Periodically during the year, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) – the agency that administers CSP – ranks applications and then develops contracts with those farmers and ranchers with the highest rankings until funding for that ranking period is completely allocated.
For more information on the Program, visit the CSP page in NSAC’s Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill.
Concurrent with the USDA announcement, NRCS published final FY 2010 sign-up data for CSP. Below is a list of contract, acreage, and payment numbers for states in which payments to contract holders summed to more than $10 million:
Conservation Stewardship Program
| State | Number of Contracts | Total Treated Acres | Dollars Obligated |
| Minnesota | 1,575 | 915,761 | $21,377,320 |
| Iowa | 1,480 | 797,605 | $20,255,574 |
| Nebraska | 1,106 | 1,836,928 | $20,152,534 |
| North Dakota | 627 | 1,280,729 | $19,486,721 |
| Kansas | 872 | 1,216,415 | $18,000,610 |
| Missouri | 1,939 | 976,001 | $16,557,469 |
| Oklahoma | 918 | 1,137,871 | $16,175, 899 |
| Texas | 989 | 2,037,864 | $15,185,771 |
| Montana | 486 | 1,810,055 | $15,066,536 |
| South Dakota | 505 | 1,294,391 | $14,873,702 |
| Colorado | 469 | 1,264,376 | $11,746,128 |
| Arkansas | 620 | 569,519 | $11,187,957 |
| Georgia | 584 | 354,906 | $10,245,599 |
Conservation Security Program
| State | Number of Contracts |
FY 2011 Payment Amount |
| Missouri | 1,254 | $21,688,267 |
| Oregon | 901 | $19,323,671 |
| Iowa | 1,412 | $17,320,411 |
| Ohio | 1,081 | $12,280,801 |
| Idaho | 505 | $10,598,674 |
Click here for a state-by-state breakdown of FY 2010 contract numbers and dollars obligated. You can also click here for a state-by-state breakdown of contract numbers and payments to honor existing Conservation Security Program contracts.
We plan to provide readers a more in-depth look at the 2010 enrollments just as soon as USDA releases the information.
Categories: Conservation, Energy & Environment