U.S. CONSERVATION FIGURES SEEN NEUTRAL/BEARISH U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) figures for highly-erodible land enrolled into the Conservation Reserve Program were regarded by most grain analysts as neutral to bearish, although some said a full state-by-state breakdown would be needed to assess the full price impact. "Out of 10.5 mln acres only 1.9 mln acres were accepted in corn -- That's neutral at best and perhaps bearish to what the trade was looking for," Dale Gustafson of Drexel Burnham Lambert said. The USDA said it had accepted 10,572,402 more acres into the conservation program out of bids on a total of 11,254,837 acres. Gustafson said he would not be changing his estimate of planted acreage for corn as a result of the latest figures, but some other analysts said they would adjust their estimates slightly. The USDA is due to release planting intentions figures March 31. Indications of a heavy sign-up in the conservation program recently lowered most trade estimates of corn planted acreage to 63.0 to 67.0 mln acres from 67.0 to 69.0 mln. Richard Loewy, analyst with Prudential Bache Securities, said there was not enough information to completely assess the conservation figures. "The 1.9 mln acres on corn is certainly disappointing," he added. The USDA later released the state-by-state breakdown of the enrollment figures. Loewy said the initial figures appeared to be negative for both new crop corn and soybeans, and might possibly mean an upward adjustment in planting intention figures. Asked about the impact on the flow of generic certificates onto the market this spring, he said: "The trade was definitely looking higher, so certificates are going to be less than expected." The USDA offered a special corn "bonus" rental payment to the farmers to be paid in generic certificates. The bonus amounts to two dlrs per bushel, based on the farm program payment yield for corn, for each acre of corn accepted into the reserve. Katharina Zimmer, analyst for Merrill Lynch Futures, said the conservation sign-up was slightly higher than she had expected, although she noted that some trade expectations were considerably higher than the actual figures. "I think it is friendly for the market, at least in the long run," she said. Susan Hackmann of AgriAnalysis said there was some confusion over whether trade ideas of an enrollment figure between 15 and 18 mln acres referred to the total sign-up or the latest addition. "It seems the trade was looking for more acres to be bid into the program," she said. Hackmann said she would not make much change to her ideas about corn planting figures as a result of the conservation sign-up. She added that while some trade guesses were as low as 61 mln acres, she was looking for corn plantings to be in the high 60's. Zimmer of Merrill Lynch said she would be making a slight reduction of about one mln acres in her planting estimate to around 64 mln acres. New crop corn prices at the Chicago Board of Trade firmed earlier this week on ideas of a large sign-up in the program, despite the fact that acres enrolled are generally poor yielding and not likely to make a substantial difference to final production figures.