Credit: Mark Vandever. Public domain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced they’ve accepted 2.8 million acres in offers from agricultural producers and private landowners for enrollment into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year. That brings the total accepted this year to almost 1.9 million acres through the General CRP Signup. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Zach Ducheneaux says they have also accepted over 897,000 acres for enrollment through the Continuous Signup.
Of course the Continuous Signup remains open, as it allows USDA to target the most sensitive land like highly erodible land, the most environmentally beneficial land like wetlands and buffers along streams and rivers, or locally identified critical habitat like State Acres For Wildlife. The 897,000 acres accepted through the Continuous Signup is double the enrollment from last year and three times the enrollment from 2018 and 2019. FSA expects this process to be completed by the end of September so contracts may start on October 1, 2021.
For more information contact your local USDA Service Center.