By Laura Paine and Jerry Cigelske One of the appeals of management intensive grazing is its environmental benefits. Protecting our resources on both public and private land is important and CRP is one of many tools we can use to accomplish this goal. When CRP was started, we were in the middle of the setaside programs and so the government just continued with the policy of paying farmers to not produce. As we all know, government policies are not always rational and we d do well to consider a wider range of options, especially in the arena of farm policy.
Agriculture is one of our nation s most productive economic sectors.
Jerry s heard of an example at the opposite extreme in Japan, where they have a used car tax. So while Japan uses incentives to encourage production because it is good for their economy, we spend tax dollars to discourage production. Now we have the skills, equipment, technology, and the means to make this marginal land productive and still protect it. The cow is perfectly designed to harvest these marginal fields. Well managed pastures rival CRP for soil erosion control, as well as in reduction of pesticide and fertilizer inputs.