DEXTER, MO. (AP) -- Farmers in southeast Missouri have put 90,000 acres into a program aimed at providing more wetland habitat for ducks, geese, shore birds and song birds.

The federal government has allocated about $40 million to increase wetland habitat in eight states. About $4.5 million is being spent in Missouri for the 90,000 acres in wetland habitat.

The program offers financial incentives to farmers who participate by providing shallow water habitat.

Dave White, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, told The Dexter Daily Statesman that the program was developed after the large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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