Producers and landowners will be able to start signing up for the Conservation Reserve Program at the end of the month as the department tries to expand the acreage to reach the 2018 farm bill’s goal for fiscal 2022.
The current enrollment totals 22.1 million acres, short of the 25.5-million-acre cap. The effort to boost enrollment also comes against a looming loss of more than 4 million acres at the end of September.
Last year’s signup saw 4.6 million acres accepted into the program, including the largest-ever amount of grassland CRP acres, at 2.5 million acres. Landowners submitted offers of nearly 4 million acres for the grassland CRP.
The 2022 signup for CRP will start Jan. 31 and run through March 11; the grassland portion of the program starts April 4 and ends May 13.
“We highly encourage farmers, ranchers and private landowners to consider the enrollment options available through CRP,” Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said. “Last year, we rolled out a better, bolder program, and we highly encourage you to consider its higher payment rates and other incentives. CRP is another way that we’re putting producers and landowners at the center of climate-smart solutions that generate revenue and benefit our planet.”