Besides traditional CRP, farmers can enroll land under the continuous CRP program and plant buffer and filter strips, for which there's a 20 percent incentive above the standard payment. Rod Hamilton, program specialist at the state FSA office, said programs such as these are a big success in Whitman County where targeting water quality and erodibility is a priority. The Natural Resources Conservation Service recently told Hamilton 300 applications were waiting for the go ahead. Farming in a dry region south of the Tri-Cities, some of Walt Neff's neighbors think CRP looks real good too, especially since it's difficult, if not impossible, to make commodity prices pencil out. Even with the 32 cent market loss payment, the LDP and his transition payment, Neff estimates he lost 18 cents a bushel.
Different farmers have different bases and actual versus program yields vary.
Even with the federal appropriation, which gives him 63 cents a bushel on his program yield, the money's not going to stop the downward trend. From an economist's point of view, whether or not Northwest wheat farmers are in crisis depends on how you frame the issue. Jon Newkirk, extension economist at Washington State University, said from the perspective of revenue derived from the market, yes, there is a crisis. Conditions are very poor and the future doesn't look much better. Although oversupply is the most important ingredient driving prices down, Newkirk believes the strong U.S. dollar is the main reason wheat stocks are concentrated in the United States.