The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued more than $1.77 billion this year to agricultural producers and landowners through its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a critical piece of the Department’s efforts to support climate-smart agriculture and forestry on working lands. Currently, CRP’s more than 667,000 participants received payments from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) for their voluntary conservation efforts on more than 23 million acres of private land. Since 2021, the CRP has grown by 21% in terms of acres enrolled.
“Through the addition of tools to sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better quantify these efforts, while also bringing into the fold more Tribes and underserved producers, we’ve made the Conservation Reserve Program better for our nation’s natural resources and for our agricultural producers and landowners,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These producers and landowners voluntarily place their land under contract and, in the spirit of stewardship, agree to establish and maintain prescribed conservation practices for the life of contract. We’re grateful to all CRP participants who are making a tremendous difference by proactively addressing climate change and conserving natural resources now and for future generations.”
Top five states for CRP participant payments:
Iowa: $402,508,900
Illinois: $172,723,800
Minnesota: $150,773,400
South Dakota: $129,545,200
Missouri: $99,849,600
Improvements to CRP:
Since 2021, FSA has made improvements to the program:
Introducing a new climate-smart practice incentive for CRP general and continuous signups designed to reward participants who implement conservation practices that increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Enabling additional soil rental rate adjustments or rate flexibilities, including a possible rate increase where appropriate.
Increasing payments for practice incentives from 20 percent to 50 percent. This incentive, in addition to cost-share payments, for continuous CRP practices is based on establishment cost.
Increasing payments for water quality practices rates from 10 percent to 20 percent for certain water quality benefiting practices available through the CRP continuous signup, such as grassed waterways, riparian buffers, and filter strips.
Establishing a Grassland CRP minimum rental rate benefitting more than 1,000 counties with rates currently below the $13 minimum.
About the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
CRP is a land conservation program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are from 10 to 15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.
Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, CRP is one of the largest private land conservation programs in the United States. Thanks to voluntary participation by farmers and landowners, CRP has achieved significant goals in conservation and sustainability. To learn more about CRP and other FSA programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center.
