Our Programs

CSP: the best of times, the worst of times

Two PFI farmers’ experience

When Steve Reinart took over the family farm 35 years ago, he had a conservation ethic and an expansive vision. He steadily converted his worn-out cropland on the Raccoon River into grass. He added shelter belts, windbreaks, native grass plantings, and a paddock grazing system. His farm is certified organic.

“Every year I have tried to install a new conservation practice,” Steve says. He was rewarded well for his efforts when he snagged a Tier III CSP contract in 2005. It was, he jokes, a “blind date with the federal government that went well.”

In 2006, Dick Thompson, PFI co-founder, qualified for CSP, but budget cuts had taken their toll and money wasn’t available to give them a contract. The experience left Dick incredulous about the program’s bias toward no-till systems.

“Because we cultivate row crops and plow under manures following hay, we were put in a lower category for the CSP. No-till is supposed to be good at keeping residues on the soil surface and reducing erosion. You could scatter truckloads of cornstalks over a concrete parking lot and slow the movement of the rain off the surface, but you do nothing to increase infiltration. What we need is a more diverse rotation, including oats and hay and other crops, not no-till using chemicals.”