A leading U.S. ag economist thinks the Biden administration may have to open up the Conservation Reserve Program to cropping this year because of grain shortages that could result from the crisis in Ukraine.
“I am convinced it is going to be the biggest supply shock to global grain markets in my lifetime,” University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin says in a series of tweets.
He goes on to say he believes the world “desperately needs additional acres for grain production in 2022. … The only policy lever that I can think of in the hands of the US gov't is to open up the Conservation Reserve Program for cropping on a one-year emergency basis.”
About 22 million acres are now enrolled in CRP, with a heavy concentration in the upper Midwest and Plains states. All of the acreage is former cropland. USDA is currently conducting a general signup for the program but any new acreage won’t come into the program until the fall.
In response to Irwin, a Kansas farmer said his CRP acreage is environmentally sensitive and currently bone dry. Much of the central and southern Plains is under moderate to extreme drought conditions.