DEPUTY SECRETARY MERRIGAN ANNOUNCES FIRST NATIONAL SIGN-UP FOR NEW CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2009 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin continuous sign-up for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) on August 10 with the first signup period cutoff scheduled for September 30. CSP is a voluntary program that encourages agricultural and forestry producers to maintain existing conservation activities and adopt additional ones on their operations.

For more information, go to http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/new_csp/ Or contact your local USDA Service Center.

To see the full announcement, go to http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/08/0367.xml