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May 12, 2008 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Intensified farming this season to capitalize on high corn and soybean prices could be a boon for Wisconsin farmers but also could have a harmful effect on wildlife habitat, water quality and soil erosion control.

Thousands of acres of conservation grasslands are going under the plow this spring as land is taken out of the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to plant grassy cover crops and not plow those environmentally sensitive lands.

"Many people are concerned about this because great environmental gains have been made through these programs," said Susan Butler, conservation program specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wisconsin Farm Services Agency.

"It's an unfortunate situation. However, the program is voluntary."

Butler said it's not known yet exactly how many acres of land in Wisconsin have been taken out of the program and how many remain.

But, she said, thousands of acres that had been in the reserve program are being plowed and planted this year, mostly because the 10-year contracts expired last year and landowners, looking at commodity and rental prices higher than their annual federal payments, did not re-enroll.

Some landowners have opted out of the program mid-contract, a move that entails paying back all the annual federal payments they received for putting their land into the program, plus interest and penalties. Higher farm prices make even that a net financial gain for some landowners.

"It's happening all over," Butler said of the loss of Conservation Reserve Program land.

David Brunnquell, a Saukville-area farmer, is plowing about 100 rented acres this spring that were taken out of the program.

"People are responding to higher commodity prices, the CRP rules have gotten stricter and all of this land was coming up for renewal at the same time," he said. "I can't think of anyone who's re-enrolling."

In all, Brunnquell said, he will plant about 1,500 acres this year with corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and sweet corn. He uses much of the corn to feed the 20,000 chickens of the family's egg operation and sells the rest to area dairy farmers.

Development has taken many acres of farmland out of production in Ozaukee County, another reason farmers are searching now for any available land to plant, he said.

"Over the last five to seven years, we've seen more fields growing houses, not corn," Brunnquell said.

In Ozaukee County, about 9,000 acres were enrolled in the reserve program at its high point. Now there are about 3,800 acres enrolled, said Andy Holschbach, director of the county's Planning, Resources and Land Management Department.

"Certainly in Ozaukee County, it's not uncommon to see CRP land now being cropped," he said of this planting season.

In September, reserve program contracts on another 572 acres will expire, Holschbach said, and in September 2009, contracts on 1,230 acres will be up for renewal.

Land enrolled in the program was planted in grass cover crops that serve as buffer strips to stop water running off fields from getting into lakes and streams, he said. And not plowing the land each year also helped stop soil erosion.

"In Ozaukee County, this was a real successful program," Holschbach said.

Bird habitats disturbed

He said grassland created under the program provided important habitat for birds, especially ground-nesting birds such as meadowlarks and bobolinks.

"A lot of these bird populations are in decline, so it was nice to see this land being put into grass," he said.

"The grassland cover was necessary for habitat; now when you take that land away, there's no nesting habitat."

Butler and Holschbach agreed that the high prices now being paid for corn and beans, and the increasing amount of money landowners are getting to rent their land to farmers for planting, are resulting in more and more acres being taken out of the federal conservation program.

"With the prices of corn and beans as high as they are, that's what people are planting," Holschbach said. "And those crops cause far more erosion and runoff than grassy hay cover."

Big Bend-area farmer Bob Bartholomew, who will plant about 850 acres in corn and soybean this spring, said there are few acres in Waukesha County enrolled in the program.

Besides, he said, land in the program is there because much of it is marginal farmland, more prone to erosion and difficult to farm.

"You have to be very careful how you till that land because it's highly erodible," he said, adding that none of his land is enrolled.

The last time there was a reserve open enrollment was in 2006, Butler said. She said she does not see another enrollment period being scheduled for some time.

"All indications are we won't have one anytime soon because of the agricultural environment in the country and the desire to have crops planted," she said.

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Amy Rinard

Copyright (C) 2008 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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