REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Department of Natural Resources are offering incentives to farmers and landowners to enroll new acres, or maintain existing acres, into conservation practices.
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program aims to reduce sediment and nutrient loading into the Lake Erie Watershed and the Scioto River Watershed. The program’s goals complement Governor DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, focused on improving water quality statewide.
Under the new agreements, ODA is offering a $500 per acre one-time incentive payment for newly enrolled filter strips and grassland practices. For acres being reenrolled into wetland, filter strips and grassland practices, ODA is providing a $250 per acre one-time incentive payment.
A new state incentive will also be available for landowners to install saturated buffers. Saturated buffers help retain subsurface water flow and allow nutrients within the soil to be absorbed by vegetation. Under the new agreements, ODNR is offering $2,000 per acre on wetlands and wooded riparian buffers in the Lake Erie CREP. In the Scioto CREP, the agency is offering $1,500 per acre one-time incentive payments on newly enrolled wetlands and wooded riparian buffers. ODA and ODNR will fund 20% of the effort and USDA Farm Service Agency funds will cover the other 80%.
CREP is a part of the Conservation Reserve Program, the country’s largest private-land conservation program. The Lake Erie and Scioto River Watershed CREP projects account for close to 50% of the total CRP acres in Ohio. Nearly 52,000 acres are enrolled through the Lake Erie CREP, and more than 59,000 acres are enrolled into the Scioto River Watershed CREP.
