BIG U.S. CONSERVATION ENROLLMENT EXPECTED

  Enrollment in the U.S. Agriculture
  Department's fourth conservation signup is expected to be
  announced tomorrow, and USDA officials said the figure may be
  higher than total enrollment for the first three signups.
      Enrollment will be in the range of seven to 12 mln acres,
  USDA conservation specialists said. Total enrollment so far in
  the 10-year conservation program is 8.9 mln acres.
      Producers submitted bids to enter 11 to 12 mln acres into
  the program, Milton Hertz, administrator for USDA's
  Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service said at a
  congressional hearing yesterday. Not all the bids will be
  accepted, Hertz said, but enrollment is expected to be high.
      As in the first three signups, the Great Plains area is
  expected to attract the greatest enrollment.
      "The Great Plains area will be the predominate area which
  we'll get signup in," a USDA conservation specialist said.
      Marginal corn acreage will likely be the bulk of the
  acreage pulled from that area, he said.
      Fringe soybean acres in the southeast and some bean acreage
  in the midwest are also expected to be taken out of production,
  but the USDA source said this would be a relatively small
  percent of the total.
      A special two dlr bonus to corn producers who enroll part
  of their corn base acreage into the program has sparked more
  interest in this latest signup, USDA officials said.
      Under the program, USDA pays farmers annual rents to take
  land out of production for 10 years. The average rent payment
  accepted in the first three signups was 43.50 dlrs per acre.
  

