District Conservationist Talking Points July 2007 Farm Bill Update House Agriculture Chairman Peterson has announced that he will present two farm bills to his committee in early July, one that would be completely funded and another that would only be funded if additional funds were found as offsets.  Peterson’s timeline is to submit the language Friday July 6, with a full committee markup beginning July 16.  The Farm Bill is currently scheduled for consideration on the House floor July 26.  Peterson has said that he is taking this action in order to write a new bill, rather than extending the current 2002 Farm Bill. The Senate Ag Committee is developing its Farm Bill language, and the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee intends to markup the Fiscal Year 2008 Ag Appropriations bill the week of July 16th. Clean Water Indiana Update The State Soil Conservation Board is soliciting input on the best use of increased Clean Water Indiana funds, and the opportunities they present, through a series of public meetings being held the week of July 9th.    Background information and meeting dates and locations are available at http://www.in.gov/isda/soil/swcd/cwi/input.html. FSA Offers CRP Re-enrollment Opportunities Indiana agricultural producers and landowners whose continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expire on Sept. 30, 2007 may be eligible to re-enroll their land. Approximately 2,800 Indiana producers and landowners are in this situation, with around 11,000 acres eligible to leave the program in Indiana this fall. Farmers with general sign-up CRP contracts that expire Sept. 30, 2007, and that did not take advantage of the last year's re-enrollment or extension offer also may be eligible for the continuous sign-up. In addition, producers with land eligible for the continuous sign-up may, in some cases, be eligible for the special incentives of CRP's Farmable Wetlands Program. Continuous sign-up contracts are for 10 to 15 years. Staffing Updates The application period has closed and selections are currently being made for the following positions: * Six District Conservationist positions, located in Brookville (covering Franklin County), Brownstown (covering Jackson County), Franklin (covering Johnson and Morgan Counties), Lebanon (covering Boone and Hamilton Counties), Monticello (covering White County), and Washington (covering Daviess and Martin Counties). * RC&D Coordinator at the Sycamore Trails RC&D Office in Greencastle. * RC&D Assistant at the Wood-Land-Lakes Office in Angola. * Agricultural Engineer on the Southeast Area Office staff in North Vernon. * Resource Management Specialist on the Southeast Area Office staff in North Vernon. Selections have been made for the following positions: * Civil Engineering Technician on the Lebanon Technical Services Team. * RC&D Assistant at the Historic Hoosier Hills RC&D in Versailles. * Two Contract Specialist positions at the State Office.