Wednesday, April 30, 1997

House OKs 1-year conservation extension for winter wheat regions

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A one-year extension of a land conservation program for winter wheat regions passed the House on Tuesday, but Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said that it could compound wheat supply problems.

Glickman said in a letter to House sponsors that extension of the Conservation Reserve Program would idle millions of acres just as this year's wheat crop is suffering from freezes and floods around the country.

The extension "precludes millions of acres of farmland from returning to production next year to help rebuild this country's very low wheat stocks," Glickman said.

But the House approved the legislation, 325-90. It affects wheat, barley and oats producers in states where crops are planted in the fall, including Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Oregon.

Farmers would be able to keep acreage idle under the Conservation Reserve Program for another year, even if the acreage was later rejected by the Agriculture Department. This would give farmers time to prepare the ground, now covered with trees or grass, for crop planting in fall 1998.

If they are not notified about their CRP acres until summer, some farmers fear losing both a crop and a government payment this year.

"Most of these producers cannot and will not gamble on waiting for the USDA to make a decision," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith, R-Ore.

Contracts on 22 million acres of CRP land expire in September, and farmers have offered 26 million for new 10-year contracts.

Glickman outlined several options for farmers, including some continued CRP payments even if the land is prepared for cultivation and a promise that farmers who destroy ground cover before they are notified by USDA can still enroll the land if they are later accepted.

Aside from Glickman's opposition, the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., the Agriculture Committee chairman, "is not very enthusiastic about it," said spokesman Andy Fisher.

Fisher said Lugar is willing to consider the bill in his committee but would prefer that USDA take care of the problem in winter wheat areas.

"This is not an unresolvable issue, if people want to work at it," Fisher said.