CSP Contract Signing Celebration

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Chief Bruce Knight signs the first of 147 approved Conservation Security Program (CSP) contracts in the East Nishnabotna Watershed with Kurt Johnson of Audubon County. Looking on is Richard Van Klaveren, Iowa NRCS State Conservationist, Mark Halverson, Chief Agricultural Aide to Senator Tom Harkin, and Iowa Fifth District Congressman Steve King. Held Friday morning at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic, the ceremony marked the first of the contracts in the watershed that will provide conservation incentive payments on 34,729 acres totaling $1,089,938. Iowa counties in the East Nishnabotna Watershed are Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Fremont, Guthrie, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Shelby. The 2002 Farm Bill authorized the Conservation Security Program which is designed to reward producers for their good conservation practices and land stewardship.

Denise O'Brien, a farmer from Atlantic, Iowa, looks on as Bruce Knight, Chief of USDA-NRCS, signs a contract making her one of the first farmers in the state to participate in the new Conservation Security Program. The contract between NRCS and O'Brien was signed Friday morning in Atlantic in a ceremony attended by Congressman Steve King, Senator Tom Harkin's Chief Agriculture Aide Mark Halverson and NRCS Iowa State Conservationist Richard Van Klaveren. O'Brien, who farms with her husband Larry Harris, was one of 147 producers approved for CSP contracts in the East Nishnabotna Watershed in Southwestern Iowa. The CSP was authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill and is admistered by the NRCS.

Mike Gardner, a farmer from Fremont County, Iowa, talks with reporters on a farm tour held after he became one of the first farmers in Iowa to sign up for the Conservation Security Program. Gardner's conservation practices include no-till farming, no fall anhydrous application, GPS grid sampling, fertilizer application and terraces. He is one of 147 producers approved for CSP contracts in the East Nishnabotna Watershed in Southwestern Iowa. A CSP signing ceremony attended by NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, Congressman Steve King, Senator Tom Harkin's Chief Agriculture Aide Mark Halverson and NRCS Iowa State Conservationist Richard Van Klaveren was held Friday morning in Atlantic, Iowa, followed by a bus tour of conservation practices. The CSP was authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill and is admistered by the NRCS.

Photos by: Dick Tremain, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist, 515-323-2736