opinion

Conservation Reserve Program is a win-win situation for Iowa

Everyone knows that Iowa faces significant water-quality challenges. Cities, businesses, farmers, conservationists and average citizens alike are all keenly aware of the problems we face.

The issue isn’t so much what the problem is, it’s what to do about it.

One common-sense approach to helping address the problem lies with the ongoing discussion over how to craft the next federal farm bill — the legislation approved roughly every four years to manage farm programs, food programs and many of the nation’s conservation programs. Central to that discussion and the future of Iowa’s water quality is a popular program known as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

CRP was created several decades ago to help address soil erosion and to support farm income by paying producers to put highly erodible farm acres to other uses. Its success far exceeded expectations. The program has resulted in billions of tons of soil staying on the land and out of streams, rivers and lakes.

But its benefits ended up going far beyond what its creators envisioned. CRP resulted in cleaner water with a reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus runoff by 95 and 85 percent, respectively. A study in Iowa found that even modest increases in CRP acres resulted in significant reductions in chemical run-off.

Wildlife production also vastly improved due to CRP, with these acres becoming prime habitat for pheasants, quail, deer and other wildlife. In Iowa, there is a direct correlation between acres in CRP and pheasant populations. Even pollinators benefit from CRP acres, and studies have shown a direct correlation between their health and soybean yield in the state.

While in the 1990s, Iowa had 2.2 million acres enrolled in CRP, acreage participation in the program has dropped significantly to 1.5 million acres since that time. Program reductions have resulted in a decrease in the dollars available for CRP and the acres that are eligible to participate. The result is that potential program benefits ranging from improved water quality to pheasant production have taken big hits. For example, Iowa’s roadside pheasant survey conducted in August showed that pheasant counts were down 30 percent from last year and quail were down 23 percent, numbers that are directly attributable to reduced habitat through CRP acres.

Congress needs to fund the CRP program at significantly increased levels. Doing so will mean that Iowa’s water quality will benefit, farm income will receive a sorely needed boost and the state’s wildlife populations and the dollars they bring to communities will increase.

Even taxpayers get a big return on acres enrolled in CRP. The same Iowa study that looked at the benefits of CRP on nitrogen and phosphorus discharges found that the average per-acre payout would generate public and private benefits anywhere from a 30 percent increase over the investment to more than a 300 percent increase. You can’t say that for very many federal programs.

CRP is a program that Iowans — especially the Iowa congressional delegation — should get behind and support. The benefits are far too great not to.

Ryan Heiniger is the Director of Agriculture & Conservation Innovations for Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever. He is a fourth-generation farmer in Des Moines County.

2017-18 pheasant, quail seasons