Farmers and ranchers who want to be good land stewards can get a little monetary help from Uncle Sam.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service is offering a program called the Conservation Stewardship Program. It will pay ag producers to adopt conservation activities on their land.
"The program was designed to reward people for conservation activities that they are already undertaking, and encourage them to do even more," said Malia Hildebrandt, the district conservationist for the NRCS.
The program is part of the new 2008 farm bill, Hildebrandt said, but not too many people have taken advantage of it yet.
"We're hoping to get more growers signing up," she said.
The program is only open until Sept. 30, but Hildebrandt said there will be more programs in the coming months.
Growers who choose to put their land into the program will get money from the government, ranging from $5 to $10 an acre for rangeland up to $22 an acre for cropland.
Ways that growers can qualify for the program are many, according to Dwayne Howard, branch chief of the stewardship programs for the NRCS.
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