After the Planning is Over
Once you have a contract acceptable to you, the FSA and the County Committee, you will be paid a Signing Incentive Payment (SIP). Depending on the extent of enrolled acreage within and/or adjacent to your CREP area, you may also be eligible for a Cumulative Impact Bonus (CIB) payment. These terms are better explained in a face-to-face meeting, which we will be glad to accommodate at your convenience.
When you have implemented each of the agreed-upon practices (build a fence, plant trees, etc.) you will be eligible to receive a portion of your cost-share payment. FSA pays 50% cost-share, and OWEB pays another 25%. Specific limitations apply, of course. Taxpayers don't like to pay for solid gold fences! All of these acronyms will be explained to you, along with the estimated dollar amounts associated therewith, when you get close to having a contract. (Check out our Acronyms page right now, if you don't want to wait that long!)
After you satisfactorily implement ALL of the agreed-upon practices, you will be eligible to receive a Practice Incentive Payment (PIP), which is up to 40% of the total amount on which cost-shares were paid. Once again, this is something we will explain at your pre-signing meeting.
After October 1 of each year, until your contract expires, you will be paid the annual rental payment. The first year's payment will likely be for a partial year. Thereafter the payment will include the previous October through September, paid in arrears. (The federal Fiscal Year runs from October through September.)
A portion of your rental payment specifically is designated for maintenance of the contract area. That means you are being paid to maintain the fence, control noxious weeds, and otherwise manage the property. (You MAY NOT use domestic livestock to control the noxious weeds, not even goats.) You will be expected to perform those maintenance activities. This really is no different from how you already manage your property. The additional payment is there because you cannot use livestock grazing as a management tool.
Just to reaffirm: NO GRAZING! Not cows, goats, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits, bison, llamas, emus, nor any other kind of animal you might raise for food, fiber, fertilizer or income. AND... since we all know your neighbor's cattle will get through the fence onto your CREP area, you MUST practice vigilance and diligence. Be ever-vigilant about inspecting your CREP area, and exercise due diligence to correct any problems which arise AND communicate with FSA about those problems.
One final note: the current Farm Bill has expired. Nobody yet knows what CREP will look like in the next Farm Bill, so we really have no way of knowing whether (or how much) any of the rules might change. You can be sure we will post that information here as soon as we know the answers.