Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack as well as USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie both confirmed the agency is not looking to delay sign-ups or lower acres accepted for the Conservation Reserve Program due to the Ukraine-Russia situation.

Senate Agriculture ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., previously sent a letter asking Vilsack to consider changes to CRP based on food shortage threats. Vilsack says at this time it is not necessary to delay sign-ups as those who sign up always have the right to pull out of a contract at any time.

“I don’t think we need to extend the deadline,” Vilsack says. “I think we need to maintain flexibilities we have with the existing program.”

The General CRP signup closed March 11, and the Grassland CRP signup will run from April 4 to May 13. 

In past years, USDA has made adjustments to haying and grazing on CRP if feed shortages exist. Vilsack says that again will be available if needed in 2020.

In a one-on-one interview with Bonnie, he says CRP ground tends to be highly-erodible, marginal, and flood-prone land. “Even if you took a lot of that land out, its productive capacity is going to be far less than acres that aren’t in the program on average,” he says. “We’re going to look to ways to continue to target the most environmentally sensitive lands, so we make sure we’ve got the right mix in that program.”

He adds, “In some respect with CRP we can have our cake and eat it too. We just need to make sure we get the incentives right, get the right lands in there.”

Bonnie says during the last administration, USDA “turned down some of the incentives” on encouraging enrollment in CRP, and the Biden administration has tried to turn them back up. That has boosted enrollment in 2021.

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Grasslands CRP allows working lands of grasslands to also be enrolled in the overall conservation efforts. Currently, there are 22 million acres enrolled in CRP, and for the 2022 fiscal year, a statutory cap of 25.5 million acres is in place.

As USDA looks to the next farm bill, Bonnie says this conversation will continue about how to make sure the best acres are enrolled into the program including those that provide the best benefit to the taxpayer with the highest environmental and conservation benefits but recognizes the nation must continue to produce feed, fuel and fiber.

“I think it’s finding that right balance,” Bonnie says.

When the CEOs of the leading agricultural commodity groups were asked about taking land out of CRP, Jon Doggett, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, responded with his own question.

“Is CRP for supply control or for conservation,” Doggett says. “We think it’s a conservation program.”

Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, says NAWG is advocating for a deadline extension because they’ve heard some issues in the Pacific Northwest, including Washington state, on rental rate discrepancies. Vilsack also noted they were aware of some of the rental rate issues.