BIG U.S. CONSERVATION ENROLLMENT EXPECTED
Enrollment in the U.S. Agriculture
Department's fourth conservation signup is expected to be
announced tomorrow, and USDA officials said the figure may be
higher than total enrollment for the first three signups.
    Enrollment will be in the range of seven to 12 mln acres,
USDA conservation specialists said. Total enrollment so far in
the 10-year conservation program is 8.9 mln acres.
    Producers submitted bids to enter 11 to 12 mln acres into
the program, Milton Hertz, administrator for USDA's
Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service said at a
congressional hearing yesterday. Not all the bids will be
accepted, Hertz said, but enrollment is expected to be high.
    As in the first three signups, the Great Plains area is
expected to attract the greatest enrollment.
    "The Great Plains area will be the predominate area which
we'll get signup in," a USDA conservation specialist said.
    Marginal corn acreage will likely be the bulk of the
acreage pulled from that area, he said.
    Fringe soybean acres in the southeast and some bean acreage
in the midwest are also expected to be taken out of production,
but the USDA source said this would be a relatively small
percent of the total.
    A special two dlr bonus to corn producers who enroll part
of their corn base acreage into the program has sparked more
interest in this latest signup, USDA officials said.
    Under the program, USDA pays farmers annual rents to take
land out of production for 10 years. The average rent payment
accepted in the first three signups was 43.50 dlrs per acre.
 Reuter
