FAQ: I applied to enroll 40 acres of environmentally sensitive land in USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program in 2016. My bid wasn’t accepted. What’s going on with CRP? The competitive bid process is fierce. Why the big increase in number of farm owners seeking to enter land into this program?

Answer: USDA will issue nearly $1.7 billion in payments this year to more than half of a million Americans who have contracts with the government to protect sensitive agricultural lands.

This government investment, part of the voluntary USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), will allow producers to protect almost 24 million acres of wetlands, grasslands and wildlife habitat in 2016, noted U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a recent speech. By law, there is a cap on the number of total acres nationwide that USDA can allow into the program.

Record number of landowners wanting to enroll in CRP
CRP provides financial assistance to farmers and ranchers who remove environmentally sensitive land from production to be planted with certain grasses, shrubs and trees that improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and increase wildlife habitat. In return for enrolling in CRP, USDA, through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Landowners enter into contracts that last between 10 and 15 years.

"We have seen record demand to participate in this important program this year," said Vilsack. "Despite the current enrollment limit of 24 million acres, USDA is committed to continuing our important partnerships with farmers, ranchers, state and local governments and sportsmen to maintain the environmental benefits provided by the Conservation Reserve Program."

Newly enrolled CRP acres in 2016 triple previous year
Corn and soybean prices have been low for several years now, and will continue low in 2017 due to record U.S. crops in 2016 and an increased carryover of grain from 2015. More farmers and landowners want to remove more of their marginal acres from row crop production and seed the land to grass, and enroll it in CRP program to collect the annual payment from USDA.

More than 1.3 million acres were newly enrolled in CRP in fiscal year 2016 using the continuous enrollment authority. That’s triple the pace of the previous year. In fiscal year 2016, FSA also accepted 411,000 acres through its general enrollment authority, plus 101,000 acres in the new CRP-Grasslands program, which balances conservation with working lands.

More than 70% of the acres enrolled in CRP-Grasslands are diverse native grasslands under threat of conversion, with more than 97% of the acres having a new, veteran or underserved farmer or rancher as a primary producer.

Small livestock operations can apply for CRP Grasslands
USDA has a new feature of the CRP Grasslands program whereby small livestock operations with 100 or fewer head of grazing cattle can submit applications to enroll up to 200 acres of grasslands per farm. It is geared specifically for small-scale livestock grazing operations. USDA’s goal is to enroll up to 200,000 acres. The new practice for small-scale livestock grazers aims, in part, to encourage greater diversity geographically in types of livestock operations.

The opportunity to make an offer for land to be enrolled in the 2017 program ends Dec. 16, 2016. Offers selected will be enrolled into CRP Grasslands beginning Oct. 1, 2017.

CRP is very effective at reducing nutrient runoff
During its 30-year history, the CRP program has reduced nitrogen and phosphorous runoff by 95% and 85%, respectively, and restored 2.7 million acres of wetlands. It has also protected more than 170,000 stream miles with riparian buffers, enough to go around the world seven times.

The CRP program provides 15 million acres that are beneficial to pollinators, and hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat that has resurrected waterfowl and gamebird populations, like pheasants, quail and prairie chicken.

CRP has saved 9 billion tons of soil from eroding
CRP has sequestered an annual average of 49 million tons of greenhouse gases, equal to taking 9 million cars off the road, and prevented 9 billion tons of soil from erosion, enough to fill 600 million dump trucks.

For more information about CRP, contact your local FSA office or online at fsa.usda.gov/crp. Visit fsa.usda.gov/crpis30 or follow Twitter at #CRPis30 for program anniversary background and success stories. To locate your local FSA office visit offices.usda.gov.