USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA is accepting more than 2 million acres in offers from agricultural producers and landowners through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General sign-up, which included 219,000 acres in Kansas.

This is the first of the program’s multiple sign-ups occurring in 2022. With about 3.4 million acres expiring this year, Vilsack encourages producers and landowners to consider the Grassland and Continuous sign-ups, both of which are currently open.

Producers submitted reenrollment offers for just over half of the expiring acres, similar to the rate in 2021. Offers for new land under general CRP were considerably lower compared to last year’s numbers, with fewer than 400,000 acres being offered this year versus more than 700,000 acres offered last year.

It is important to note that submitting and accepting a CRP offer is the start of the process, and producers still need to develop a conservation plan before enrolling their land on Oct. 1. Each year, during the window between offer acceptance and land enrollment, some producers change their mind and ultimately decide not to enroll some accepted acres without penalty.

The three other types of CRP — Grassland, Continuous and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) — are still available for either working lands; or targeted, often smaller subfield, offers. Producers have submitted offers on nearly 260,000 acres through the Continuous and CREP sign-up so far this year. The Grassland sign-up, which last year had its highest participation ever, closes Friday (May 13).

General CRP sign-up

The General CRP sign-up 58 ran from Jan. 31 to March 11.

Through CRP, producers and landowners establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees, to control soil erosion, improve soil health and water quality, and enhance wildlife habitat on agricultural land. In addition to the other well-documented benefits, lands enrolled in CRP are playing a key role in climate change mitigation efforts across the country.

In 2021, the Farm Service Agency introduced improvements to the program, which included a new Climate-Smart Practice Incentive to increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This incentive provides a 3%, 5% or 10% incentive payment based on the predominant vegetation type for the practices enrolled — from grasses to trees to wetland restoration.

More information

While the General sign-up is closed, producers and landowners can still apply for the Continuous and Grassland sign-ups by contacting their local USDA Service Center.

Signed into law in 1985, CRP is one of the largest voluntary private-lands conservation programs in the United States. It was originally intended primarily to control soil erosion and potentially stabilize commodity prices by taking marginal lands out of production. The program has evolved over the years, providing many conservation and economic benefits. Learn more at fsa.usda.gov/crp. 

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