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News
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Oregon ag takes advantage of conservation programs
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10/20/2010
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Article Content Suggested lead
Oregon farmers and ranchers are taking advantage of conservation programs that help them help the environment:
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Audio 01
Federal programs that provide money to landowners to protect or enhance environmentally sensitive lands are popular with Oregon's producers. Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba says that fits right in with the state's general environmental consciousness:
COBA: "Agriculture takes care of 17 million acres of land, I believe, in the State of Oregon. That's a lot of land. As I always say, if you didn't have a farmer or rancher out there taking care of that land, who would be? It certainly wouldn't be government, not in this day and age." :14
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Audio 02
The Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP for short, offers rental payments to growers who take sensitive land out of production and plant cover crops to protect against erosion while enhancing wildlife habitat. More than 22-hundred Oregon farms have CRP contracts. ODA's Ray Jaindl (JAN-dull) says more than a half million acres of would-be crop land is now in CRP:
JAINDL: "These programs recognize that by taking land out of production to maintain some environmental benefit that society wants, does cost operators money in that they are not producing a crop while they are still paying taxes and maintaining that resource. :17
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That's why nearly 27 million dollars in CRP rental payments are made to Oregon producers right now. Jaindl hopes the public understands that participation in these types of programs shows that farmers and ranchers care about the state's natural resources. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
Additional audio: Audio 03
JAINDL says the take home message to agricultural producers in Oregon is to get involved in these federal conservation programs if it makes economic sense:
"There are opportunities out there that are good for the economy of the local rural community as well as the landowner. We encourage everyone to pursue them as much as possible because it is good for the environment." :13
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Additional audio: Audio 04
JAINDL says the take home message for the public is that farmers and ranchers participate in these programs primarily because they want to sustain the natural resources that sustain them:
"The landowners love the land. They wouldn't be out there if they didn't. Please recognize what most of them are trying to do. It's for their benefit in terms of the business, but they are also trying to achieve the same goal as society, which is protect the resource- whether it is water, wildlife, land, scenery- they enjoy all that as much as anyone." :19
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/101020conservation.shtml |
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