2005 Conservation Security Program - Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility

• 1. Can you create a joint venture for the purpose of the program?
• 2. If a landowner signs as an applicant, is the tenant required to be a part of the contract also if they play a major part in the management and finances of the operation?
• 6. Cash rent scenarios - Is landowner an eligible participant /applicant to the contract?
• 7. How are we to group fields for eligibility determination based on SCI - group by like soils per application or group by like soils by individual fields?
• 8. Ag Operation - What restrictions will be placed on a CSP applicant on how detailed they can define their ag operation?  Do we have any say in what can be defined as an ag operation?
• 10. How are corporations and trusts handled as far as signatures for contracts?
• 11. Will active advancing classic gullies at the bottom of waterways make the adjacent cropland fields ineligible under the eligibility criteria of water quality (sedimentation to surface waters)?
• 12. Would separate soil tests be required on center pivot corners?
• 13. On land that is leased for mineral rights, in this case oil drilling.  Who is responsible for any resource concerns resulting from that production?
• 16. Do we assume the contract holder has to apply and maintain records of the practice for two years before we can modify "Idle Land" acres into the contract or is it noted in the manual?
• 23. For Tier III, riparian corridors must be adequately treated. What do we have to do to address this issue and how do we document this?
• 25. For addressing the wildlife concern, we need to complete the KS Wildlife Habitat Assessment Guide. Do we have to go to the field to complete this and does it need to be completed by a biologist?
• 28.  Both the Benchmark Inventory for Nutrient Management and the 2005 CSP Enrollment Categories reference either "Certified Crop Advisor" or "certified crop consultants".  We have a number of professional crop consultants (working for companies) that are not "Certified".  In order to take credit for the use of a crop consultant do they have to be "Certified", and if so does their CCA number need to be documented?
• 29. The Benchmark Inventory for Other Land requires that a "Significant Potential to Pollute Evaluation" be completed.  Where is this evaluation located?
• 31. This is in reference to question 49 on the National CSP Questions and Answers dated 3/25/05.  The answer provided to this question seems somewhat misleading and was brought to my attention by an operator who has an owner who doesn’t want to provide any tenure or sign the contract.  If a tenant cannot be provided a degree to tenure security by a landowner how can they demonstrate control?
• 32. There are producers who are taking over new ground in 2005.  They currently have control of all acres except that which is in wheat.  The old operator will have control of the wheat ground until the wheat is harvested.  Can the new operator include the wheat ground in their agricultural operation during the 2005 signup?
• 33. In the case where a producer has just acquired new ground (working agricultural land), what documentation is needed to determine eligibility and benchmark conditions on the new acres?
• 35. We are seeing situations where producers were taking soils samples on a fairly regular basis, however due to drought conditions over the past several years they do not have "current" soil samples.  Are we correct in considering these ineligible?
• 36. Also there are situations where the producer has not taken soil samples, nor have they applied fertilizer or waste.  Are we correct in considering these ineligible?
• 37. The benchmark inventory does not indicate how many soil samples are required.  If a producer has several quarters of similar soils in the same rotation, but has only sample one quarter, are we correct in considering the remaining quarters ineligible?
• 38. A producer has a half section, but when he defines his agricultural operation he leaves out 80 acres of rangeland "on purpose" (because he doesn’t have any records).  Is there any recourse in this situation that will prevent him from ever reaching a Tier 2 or 3 level since he purposely left out part of his operation?
• 39. What part does WINPST play in the evaluation process?  When do we complete WINPST? How/Do we document mitigating practices in if needed?
• 46. When a producer has a rangeland tract and he hays it some years and he grazes it other years what landuse do we assign it?
• 48. Is there a Power of  Attorney (POA) form that can be used for CSP?  If not, what alternative do producers who currently work off of FSA POA’s have?
• 49. Should ineligible land or other land that was defined in the ag operation be digitized in Toolkit 2004?  If so, is there a standardized identification that we should be using?
• 51. A producer sold his cow herd three years ago and now wants to enter the land in CSP.  One rangeland unit has not been grazed for 3 years.  The second rangeland unit is being grazed by one horse.  In the case of the unit being grazed, the livestock-forage balance appears to be met (no evaluation has been done at this time).  Can both of these units be considered idle land and therefore ineligible?  Or does the grazing of one horse constitute the production of an agricultural product?
• 52. I have two producers who currently farm land that has either been subdivided for development or currently has an offer to purchase for development.  One unit will be affected by a major highway project.  The other will eventually be developed.  Due to the problems associated with the eventual development can these producers leave these acres out of their ag operation even though they will continue to be farmed until development starts?

Enhancements

• 4. Energy Management - Soy biodiesel - What percentage must the mixture be?  Is the payment $125/500 gallon until the enhancement payment cap is met?
• 5. Energy Enhancement - Is burning oil as waste oil or supplying someone with waste oil for burning for heat considered recycling and eligible for an enhancement.  How is oil recycling documented?
• 9. Saw the list of enhancement for the watershed. It refers to job sheets. Are these out and if so, where are they?
• 14. Can an individual get the SCI and STIR enhancement payments on the same acres at the same time?
• 15. Can an individual get the SCI and STIR enhancement payments in CSP in the same year that a No-till incentive payment is earned in EQIP?
• 17. There are two enhancements dealing with prescribed burning. (2 questions)
• 18. Under the Grazing Enhancement – "Improve Range Pant Health Through Increasing the Number of Grazing Management Units to Decrease Occupation Periods", if a CSP participant has already a grazing system in place that allows deferment and or complete rest, can we consider that as an benchmark enhancement and pay them the very first year of the contract, or does the participant have to implement a new system for payment?
• 19. A CSP applicant is interested in the Habitat Enhancement of Habitat Index for the Prairie Chicken. The index values range from $2.00 to $10.00 per acre depending on the habitat index value generated by the Prairie Chicken Wildlife Habitat Appraisal Guide. Does the enhancement payment apply to all the acres in the offer?
• 20. Same question as #19 except substitute bobwhite quail for prairie chicken?
• 21. Can a CSP participant receive Grazing Enhancement payments for both the enhancements of "Improve Rangeland Plant Health through Increasing the Number of Management Units" and of "Maintain and or Improve Riparian Areas through Managing Access" on the same acres?
• 22. Can we pay a SCI enhancement payment on pastureland?
• 24. A CSP applicant has an EQIP contract for Grazing Lands Health Resource Concern and is receiving incentive payments for prescribed grazing that involves rest or deferment. The question is would they also be eligible for the Grazing or Habitat Enhancement payments that deal with deferred grazing on the same acres that they are receiving the incentive payment on?
• 26. How do we handle the situation where a CSP applicant wants to schedule an enhancement that involves burning (either under Grazing or Habitat) for the very first year of the contract (05), considering burning enhancements are a one time payment (payment only for the year when burning is completed) and the requirement for all benchmark enhancements (first year scheduled enhancements) to be paid on a sliding scale?
• 27. What is the difference between the Habitat Enhancements "Establish or maintain grassy areas to provide wildlife habitat food and cover values" and "Improve wildlife habitat nesting areas by leaving a minimum of 10% of unharvested hay"?
• 30. Is Irrigation Enhancement Index (V 3.0) dated January 5, 2005 the most current index that we should be using?
• 43. There is a "soil management enhancement practice" related to the use of GPS, reduction of soil compaction, and STIR. I need addition information so that I can determine when the landowner meets the criteria necessary for payment. What is a traffic area? Are these traffic areas like those next to the field entrance where we load the planter unload the grain and see a lot of Planting and harvest activity? How do we avoid the traffic area with a GPS? Do we want our wheel tracks in the same place year after year or are we trying to avoid last years wheel tracks?  Should we assume if they have a GPS unit and meet the STIR requirements he has earned the payment?
• 44. There are several enhancements related to STIR but they address different resource concerns. Can producers collect on more than one enhancement related to STIR or do the enhancements have to be significantly different?

Enrollment Categories

• 34. For category placement, can one activity under pest management (i.e. selecting plant varieties to minimize pesticide application) be used for one unique activity under Water Quality and a different activity under pest management (i.e. spot spraying) be used as a unique activity under Wildlife Habitat?
• 40. On the categories worksheet under Cropland Water Quality – Stewardship Practice and Activity List for Water Quality, there are five bullets listed under Pest Management activities. The question is: are all bullets required to qualify as one activity or are they individual activities?
• 42. What landuse do we put native hayland in and how do we put it into one of the existing "categories" when it doesn’t fit any of them?

Stewardship Payments

• 3. Soil Bank Grass that is still in grass but now irrigated.  What rental rate do we use?

Tiers

• 41. A producer qualifies for a tier one or tier two contracts that allows him to participate in the program for 5 to 10 years. He asked that we develop the contract for a ten year period. At the end of the sixth year his/her payments are greatly diminished because of the early contract payout for benchmark enhancement practices, can he/she end the ten year contract in the sixth year without undo harsh penalties?
• 45. The producer is interested in a tier III contract. He has a number of fuel tanks along the edge of a field that does not have containment as required by state law. The tanks do not leak and are not causing any resource concern, do we need to consider whether state and federal laws are met when considering whether quality criteria has been met?
• 47. I have a CSP application that would like to work toward the Tier 3 level.  The problem is their farmstead well is located down inside the pump hole.  This is not that uncommon for farmsteads in this county.  The CSP self-certification book does say that the well casing must extend above the ground (meets State and Local standards).  What will need to be done to the well to bring it up to CSP Tier III criteria?
• 50. A producer has an ag operation which includes 1800 acres of cropland, an 11 acre farmstead which includes 9 acres of "horse pasture".  This pasture was planted to fescue many years ago, and then over-seeded with buffalograss.  What the horses don’t remove through grazing is mowed for aesthetic purposes.  The forage-livestock balance requirement for pasture is not met.  The producer would like to move his contract from a Tier I into a Tier III.  The only identified problem is the "horse pasture".  The producer is willing to remove the horses, but would like to continue to mow the pasture for aesthetic purposes.  If the "pasture" is no longer grazed can we consider the land use as "other" since it will be treated as a lawn?  At what point in time can we consider the "pasture" as being a "lawn" (other land)?

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