Press Release: USDA Announces Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General Sign-up, 2012

Landowners and Producers Will Have 4-Week Window Beginning in March to Enroll

Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS) Michael Scuse announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning on March 12 and ending on April 6. CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation’s natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the United States.

“It is USDA’s goal to ensure that we use CRP to address our most critical resource issues,” said Scuse. “CRP is an important program for protecting our most environmentally sensitive lands from erosion and sedimentation, and for ensuring the sustainability of our groundwater, lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. As always, we expect strong competition to enroll acres into CRP, and we urge interested producers to maximize their environmental benefits and to make cost-effective offers.”

CRP is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers to help them use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and develop wildlife habitat. In return, USDA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years. Producers with expiring contracts and producers with environmentally sensitive land are encouraged to evaluate their options under CRP. Producers also are encouraged to look into CRP’s other enrollment opportunities offered on a continuous, non-competitive, signup basis. Read more »

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reminded landowners and producers that a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will begin on March 14, 2011, and continue through April 15, 2011. During the sign-up period, farmers and ranchers may offer eligible land at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized USDA to maintain CRP enrollment up to 32 million acres. The Secretary announced the sign-up recently in Omaha, Neb., at Pheasant Fest.

“For 25 years, CRP has generated significant environmental improvements,” said Vilsack. “Sound conservation practices encouraged through CRP enrollment preserve the soil, clean our water and restore habitat for wildlife. I encourage all interested farmers and ranchers to contact their local FSA office to learn more about this opportunity.” Read more »

On Friday, January 28, USDA announced that a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up will be held from March 14-April 14, 2011. This is the 40th general sign-up for the CRP and the second since 2006. The last general sign-up was held last year, and enrolled over 4 million acres across the country.

Under a CRP general sign-up, FSA collects and ranks offers from farmers to enroll highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land in the program.  The land is taken out of production and long-term, resource conserving cover vegetation is established to control soil erosion, improve water and air quality, and enhance wildlife habitat.  Contracts awarded under this signup will become effective Oct. 1, 2011.  Read more from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition … or See the USDA Press Release.

From The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA):

USDA has created a new tool so that landowners and beginners interested in the Conservation Reserve Program Transition Incentives Program can find each other.

The Conservation Reserve Program Transition Incentives Program (CRP TIP) provides up to two additional Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments to a retired or retiring landowner or operator with an expiring CRP contract. To qualify, the landowner must sell or lease the CRP land to a beginning or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher so the new operator can convert some or all of the land to production using sustainable grazing or crop production methods. The new farmer or rancher is required to operate under a conservation plan approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Through USDA’s new tool, called TIP Net, Through the Transition Incentives Program, producers with land for sale or lease are introduced to qualified beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who want to buy or rent land for their operations. You can access TIP Net through FSA’s website HERE.

Read more about it from CFRA HERE…

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) held a general signup in August 2010 for its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).  On October 8, FSA released a report detailing the variety and distribution of the 4.3 million acres accepted into the program during this signup. Read the full report HERE.

USDA Press Release No. 0386.10

Contact: Kent Politsch (202) 720-7163; kent.politsch@wdc.usda.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 26, 2010 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will begin on August 2, 2010 and continue through August 27, 2010. During the sign-up period, farmers and ranchers may offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized USDA to maintain CRP enrollment up to 32 million acres. Jim Miller, Agriculture Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services, made the announcement on behalf of Secretary Vilsack during a conference call with reporters.

“America’s farmers and ranchers play an important role in improving our environment, and for nearly 25 years, CRP has helped this nation build sound conservation practices that preserve the soil, clean our water, and restore habitat for wildlife,” said Miller. “Today’s announcement will help us create a greener and healthier America, and I encourage all interested farmers and ranchers to contact their local FSA office to learn more how to take advantage of this opportunity.” Read more »

From The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC): http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/2010-conservation-reserve-program-sign-up-announced/

March 5th, 2010

At last Saturday’s Pheasants Fest in Des Moines Iowa, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced there will a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year, the first general sign-up since 2006.  In testimony before Congress last year USDA indicated there would not be a general sign-up this year, so this week’s announcement represents a change in policy.

The 2008 Farm Bill lowered the total acreage allowed in the CRP from 39.2 million acres to 32 million acres.  There are currently 31.2 million acres in the reserve.

CRP pays annual rental payments to landowners who idle cropland in contracts that last 10 years.  CRP contracts on close to 4.5 million acres expire in September 2010 and another 4.5 million in September 2011, which could mean a significant drop in acreage.  Some of those acres will be re-enrolled, but in the past few years, many landowners responded to federal and state incentives for corn ethanol production and periods of higher commodity prices by taking land out of the CRP and putting it back into row crop cultivation.  Secretary Vilsack emphasized his concern that the large amount of acreage coming out of CRP will lead to increased wind and soil erosion and the loss of important wildlife habitat, especially in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. Read more »

SUPPORT THE NEXT GENERATION OF FARMERS AND RANCHERS!

Tell USDA to Stop Delaying Implementation of the CRP Transition Option
for Beginning and Minority Producers!

This Important Alert is from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) Please sign their petition today (see link below) to tell USDA to STOP delaying the implementation of the CRP – a crucial program for Beginning Farmers!

Change happens at the transition.  An aging farmer population, a new generation of farmers desperate for access to land, 4.2 million acres of land about to come out of the Conservation Reserve Program, and a growing consumer demand for  food grown by sustainable and organic producers, together present a tremendous opportunity to transform our food system.

In the last Farm Bill, the sustainable agriculture community successfully created a new program-the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Transition Option- that offers incentives to land owners enrolled in the CRP to sell or lease the land to beginning and minority producers using sustainable or organic farming practices at the end of the CRP contract.

USDA is planning to delay implementation of the CRP Transition Option for at least two years.

SIGN THE PETITION

Tell USDA we can’t waste this opportunity.

Background

The CRP Transition Option provides incentives for CRP landowners who do not intend to extend their CRP contracts or re-enroll land back into the CRP to transfer (rent or lease) the land to beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers who are willing to return the land to production using sustainable or organic grazing, cropping, or mixed cropping-grazing systems.  In return for the preference shown to beginning or minority farmers or ranchers, the landowner will receive an additional two years of CRP rental payments.  The CRP Transition Option is already fully paid for through mandatory dollars in the 2008 Farm Bill.

Unfortunately, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) plans to hold up the implementation of the new CRP Transition Option in order to conduct a multi-year environmental impact statement (EIS) review on CRP policies in general.  While the proposed EIS is relevant for the general CRP, it is inappropriate to include the Transition Option since the land is leaving the program.  Importantly, the EIS would delay CRP Transition Option implementation for at least two years which is when most CRP contracts are set to expire (over 4.2 million acres in just 2009 and 2010), thus wasting taxpayer dollars and an important environmental opportunity.

What you can do: Ask USDA to stop delaying implementation of the CRP Transition Option by moving the Transition Option out of the EIS and immediately issuing a rule to implement the Transition Option.  Ask USDA to also actively promote the Transition Option to beginning and minority farmers and ranchers and to owners of the over 4 million acres that is about to leave the CRP.  Sign the petition today!

USDA Release No. 0393.09
Contact:
Jonathan Groveman (202) 720-4178
USDA Asks Public for Comments and Schedules Nine Public Meetings on
Conservation Reserve Program
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2009 - The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), on
behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), today asked the
public for comments on the Conservation Reserve Program and scheduled
nine public meetings from Sept. 15 through Oct. 8 to solicit comments
on the program.
The meetings will be held in Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Kansas,
Illinois, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Topics to
be discussed at the public meetings include provisions dealing with
cropping history requirements, crop rotation practices, contract
incentives, program enrollment terms and the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) enrollment authority of 32 million acres established
for the remainder of the 2008 Farm Bill.
"These workshops will be important to receive feedback about how we
can make the Conservation Reserve Program more effective for
producers as well as increase the environmental benefits of the
program," said Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess.
USDA will consider each comment received at the public meetings and
during the comment period when preparing a Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement. This statement will help USDA decision-makers and
the public with an analysis of the environmental benefits and
potential impacts associated with implementing various changes to CRP
consistent with the 2008 Farm Bill.
CRP is a voluntary program that supports the implementation of
long-term conservation measures designed to improve the quality of
ground and surface waters, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife
habitat on environmentally sensitive agricultural land. In return,
CCC provides participants with rental payments and cost share
assistance under contracts extending from 10 to 15 years. CRP is a
CCC program administered by the FSA with the support of other federal
and local agencies.
The nine public meetings are scheduled for: Read more »