Acreage rented for an average of $79.33 per month

Forty-three tracts of farm ground in Whitman County were accepted into the USDA’s conservation reserve program, or CRP, during last month’s general sign-up.

Those contracts totaled more than 5,792 acres of land, according to Kathy Wolfe, executive director of the county’s Farm Service Agency office.

USDA officials approved every contract offered in the county. Wolfe said one landowner has decided not to accept the USDA’s contract, withdrawing 230.5 acres to bring the total of general CRP enrollment down to 5,561.7.

The general CRP program is for enrollment of large tracts of land for conservation purposes.

The latest enrollment will not bump the county over the 25 percent CRP limit, a topic which was debated at the courthouse this summer.

Members of the county’s FSA Central Committee in August asked county commissioners to exempt land enrolled in continuous CRP from the 25 percent land cap.

Federal regulations cap the amount of a county’s farmland that can be in CRP at 25 percent. The local committee in 2006 put a 22 percent cap on general CRP to ensure the availability of the continuous program.

The exemption request was a precaution. Officials worried this year’s signup might push the county’s CRP ground over the 25 percent cap.

With the latest enrollment, Whitman County will be 65,754 acres under the cap limit. The margin will increase because 249 contracts covering 14,226 acres are expected to expire in October.

County Commissioners Pat O’Neill and Greg Partch rejected the proposal to lift the cap, saying the program has done more economic harm than environmental benefit.

“I thought we were far enough under that cap that I wasn’t concerned about people not being able to take advantage of the continuous program,” Commissioner Greg Partch said Tuesday.

Commissioner Michael Largent voted to allow the exemption of continuous acres from the cap, saying at the time the continuous program was too vital an economic resource for farmers to risk a shut-off.

“Well, no harm, no foul at this point,” Commissioner Largent said Tuesday after learning the county’s new totals.

“That’s a good thing, because I think there’d be a lot of people perturbed if the continuous option was taken away because of a commissioner decision.”

About 3,000 of the county’s accepted acres was land that had previously been in CRP. Many contracts expired over the past three years, but the USDA has not held a general CRP signup session since 2007.

Average annual rental rate for Whitman County CRP in this go-round was $79.33 per acre, $7 higher than the average price quoted by local landowners.

Many applicants, said Wolfe, asked for a reduced price in order to improve their score on the USDA’s Environmental Benefits Index.

The index ranks land for CRP based on its capacity for wildlife enhancement, water quality, soil erosion, enduring benefits, air quality and cost.

The average Whitman County score on the EBI was 211; the USDA’s cutoff score was 200.

Nationally, the USDA approved contracts on 4.3 million acres. In Washington, 182,255 acres were enrolled.

The USDA accepted 84.3 percent of the state’s contracts. Across the U.S., 57 percent of contracts were approved.

Average national rental rate was $46.03 per acre. Washington’s average rental payment is $49.22 per acre.