Grain prices prompt pull from conservation

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Millions of acres of set-aside farmland are going back into production in the United States on the rise in commodity prices, environmentalists said.

The two groups -- farmers and conservationists -- are at odds over the erosion of the Conservation Reserve, part of the 1985 Farm Bill that paid farmers $51an acre for taking land out of production, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Roughly 36.8 million acres have been set aside. But, as grain prices rise farmers, whose conservation commitments last 10 years, have been opting to put the fallow land back to work.

"We're in a crisis here. Do we want to eat, or do we want to worry about the birds?" asked Baltimore baker J. R. Paterakis.

Groups like Ducks Unlimited see the loss of vibrant nesting grounds. The Department of Agriculture estimated the idle acreage has increased the duck population by 2 million birds.

The program paid out $1.8 billion last year, but farmers pulled roughly half the 5 million acres up for renewal last fall out of the program, the report said.