BOARD01179

• Board Meeting Date: 7/25/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Additional information about CIG, including summaries of approved projects, is available at
htto://www.nrcs.usda.l!ov/orogramslcig A char! for a state listing of CIG projects (pdt) can be .
found at: htto://www.nrcs.usda.l!ov/orogramslcig/2006awards.html

USDA Announces $11.8 Million in Emergency Conservation Program Funding for 18
States: On June 29 Agriculture Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner announced that USDA will
begin allocating $11.8 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding for 18 states
to help producers rehabilitate land damaged by natural disasters. The funding awards range from
South Dakota's $1,963,000 to Illinois' $12,000, with Colorado receiving $413,000

ECP gives producers additional resources to remove debris from farmland, restore fences and
conservation structures, provide water for livestock in drought situations and grade and shape
farmland damaged by a natural disaster. The program is administered by USDA Farm Service
Agency
(FSA) state and county committees. Eligible producers will receive cost-share assistance of up to
75 percent of the cost of the approved practice, as determined by FSA county committees.

Producers should check with their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are
established by county FSA committees. For a producer's land to be eligible, the disaster must
create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would impair or endanger the land,
materially affect its productive capacity, represent damage that is unusual in character, and be so
costly to rehabilitate that federal assistance is required to return the land to productive agricultural
use. Conservation problems existing prior to the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP
assistance.

More information on ECP and other disaster assistance programs is available at local FSA offices .
and online at: htto://disaster.fsa.usda.l!ov. USDA News [e-mail] 202 720-4623

USDA Releases Web-Based Irrigation Calcnlator Tool As Part of Overall Energy Strategy:
On June 12 Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced the release of USDA's "Energy
Estimator for Irrigation," a Web-based calculator tool designed to help producers manage their
irrigation water resources more efficiently. The tool is available at
htto:/lwww.usda.gov/enerl!V1:ools.

As more than 55 million acres of agricultural land are irrigated nationwide, according to USDA's
2002 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey, proper irrigation management can result in significant
energy savings for producers individually and collectively. For instance, a producer can move
from a high-pressure irrigation system to a low-pressure system and save up to $66 per acre,
based on spring 2006 prices. Improving water etftciency by just 10 percent could reduce diesel
consumption by 27 million gallons and save farmers and ranchers $55 million annually.

The "Energy Estimator for Irrigation" evaluates opportunities to save on energy costs and
improve efficiency of irrigation management. It allows producers to estimate the energy cost of
pumping water for irrigation on their farm. Producers can select their irrigation system and their
power source. Followed by well lift, pressure and price-per-unit of energy and select whether they
use a flow meter, irrigation scheduling or a maintenance program. They must also select a crop
from a list of commonly irrigated crops for their state, their irrigated acres and their gross
application of irrigation water.

Once this criteria has been entered, the producer receives an analysis of current water use, the
reduced water use associated with various treatment options, as well as the energy costs and

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