1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



ers with land in CRP who arc 65 or older, 25 

 percent have signed all of their cropland into 

 CRP. About 40 percent of the Montana farnis 

 with CRP have signed 50 percent or more of 

 their cropland in to the CRP. In terms of base 

 reduction, for every acre of CRP in Montana 

 there is an average aggregate base reduction, 

 mainly wheat and barley, of .6 of an acre. 



Many thought that farm managers who put 

 land in the CRP would try to acquire additional 

 cropland to manage and farm. But 4 f>ercent of 

 those with CRP contracts in Montana had 

 leased or purchased additional cropland to 

 manage. 



Of those farms with land in CRP, only 8 percent 

 sold any farm machinery. Of those farms that 

 put all of their cropland in the CRP, only 13 

 percent sold any machinery. 



In terms of the labor of the farm manager 

 himself, of 30 percent who had been previously 

 employed off-farm and enrolled part of their 

 land in CRP, 11 percent increased their employ- 

 ment after putting land in CRP and almost an 

 equal percentage, 9 percent, decreased their 

 employment. Of those who had not had any 

 off-farm employment prior to CRP, only 4.5 

 pjercent obtained off-farm employment subse- 

 quent to CRP enrollment. 



One of the popular allegations about the CRP is 

 that as funds become available through the 

 program, farmers will intensify their produc- 

 tion on their remaining cropland. Of those 

 farms which had several CRP contracts, only 6 

 percent repjorted that they increased their per 

 acre use of fertilizer on their remaining crop- 

 land. 



In terms of the future intentions of people who 

 have cropland under CRP, 94 percent indicated 

 that they were retaining all their cropland 

 throughout the ten-year CRP contract period. 

 Only about 1 1/2 to 2 percent indicated that 

 they were not retaining their cropland in CRP. 

 The presumption there would be that they 

 would sell up or otherwise dispose of it. In 

 terms of debt payment, 50 percent of those 

 farms receiving CRP payments indicated they 

 would use part of their payment for debt 



pa)'mcnt or debt retirement. Fifty-six percent 

 also indicated they would use a portion of their 

 CRP payment for operating capital. Forty-five 

 percent indicate they would use part of their 

 CRP payment for linng exp>enses, and 29 

 percent said they would use part of their CRP 

 payment for other investments. 



There was a lot of concern expressed about 

 people taking their CRP payments and spend- 

 ing the money outside their usual trade area. 

 Ninety-two percent reported there would be no 

 change in their spending levels outside of their 

 usual trade area. Five percent reported they 

 would increase their spending outside their 

 trade area. 



These prelirrunary estimates were based on a 

 random sample of Montana farm managers 

 with CRP contracts through the end of the six 

 signups. This represents the total entities of 511 

 farm managers. The usable sample was ap- 

 proximately 325 farms. 



Montana Stockgrowers 

 Association 

 Jimmie Wilson 



Spokesman on Agricultural Policy 



I represent the Montana Stockgrowers Associa- 

 tion as its spokesman on agriculture policy, and 

 I am a cattle rancher from western Montana. 



The cattle industry is the largest segment of 

 Montana agriculture based to cash receipts. 

 Throughout the history of Montana and the 

 nation, the American beef industry has played 

 an integral role in the economy of our country. 



In the past cattlemen were accused of being 

 negligent of agriculture as a whole. In 1984, we 

 became involved in drafting the 1985 Farm Bill. 

 We were the "new boys on the block," but we 

 became involved in issues critical to the cattle 

 industry. The following are some of the issues 

 imf>ortant to the association. 



Feedgrains: The payment-in-kind (PIK) pro- 

 gram aided one segment of agriculture at the 

 exp>ense of the cattlemen. Market-oriented grain 



23 



MoDtani Cbiptaf, Son lod Witv Contirvadop Soclity 



AogoitZB, 1888 



