The Conservation Reserve Program is a long-term measure designed 

 to help adjust farm production to market demands and to increase the 

 conservation of soil, water, forest, and wildlife resources. This part of 

 the Program is applicable to Coos County. When reference is made in 

 this report to the Soil Bank Program we refer to this part of the Program. 



Persons who enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program enter into con- 

 tracts of 3 to 10 years duration. The enrollee agrees to keep a designated 

 area of cropland out of production for the duration of the contract and 

 to provide for soil protection with permanent vegetative cover. The Fed- 

 eral government assists cooperators by sharing the cost of establishing 

 conservation practices in addition to making annual payments during the 

 period of the contract. The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation 

 Service (ASC) of the U. S. Department of Agriculture is the agency re- 

 sponsible for the functioning of the Program. 



When the Program began in the fall of 1956, annual rental payment 

 rates were $3 per acre for hayland and $10 per acre for land in row crops, 

 and grain. Participation in the Program was slight. Major changes in the 

 rental rate and qualifications for participation were incorporated in the 

 1959 Program. The bulk of the land units enrolled in the Program qualified 

 under the 1959 Program. The rate structure for land as outlined in the 

 1959 Conservation Reserve Program is as follows:^ 



a. The basic State rate for New Hampshire has been established 

 as $13 per acre. 



b. On the basis of land productivity the State ASC committee has 

 established average per-acre rates for the counties as follows: 



Belknap $13.00 Hillsboro $12.00 



Carroll 11.50 Merrimack 12.50 



Cheshire 13.00 Rockingham 12.00 



Coos 14.50 Strafford 12.00 



Grafton 14.50 Sullivan 12.50 



c. The county ASC committees will establish a maximum annual 

 payment rate per acre for all land offered for the program. 

 These individual farm maximum rates may vary from 50 percent 

 below to 150 percent above the county average, primarily on 

 the basis of relative productivity, rental rates and agricultural 

 land values. Upper limits of no more than 20 percent of the 

 value of the land, and $25 per acre have been established. 



(1) The regular maximum payment rate for a farm may be 

 earned by putting into the conservation reserve land which 

 has been growing row crops and small grain. 



(2) A lower rate of per-acre payment, 50 percent of the regu- 

 lar maximum rate for the farm, may be earned by putting 

 in land diverted from hay. 



(3) Under the incentive plan to get all cropland on individual 

 farms in the program, farmers who put all their eligible 



3 "General Provision of the 1959 New Hampshire Conservation Reserve Program and 

 List of Approved Practices", Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Office, Durham, 

 New Hampshire, August, 1958. 



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