Conservation Reserve Program Results in Lower Acreage Accepted

Conservation Reserve Program Results in Lower Acreage Accepted

Last week USDA announced that 800,000 acres were accepted into the Conservation Reserve Program — or CRP. This was one of the most selective sign-up periods in the CRP’s 30-year history. Farm Service Agency Administrator Val Dolcini has been traveling throughout the region this week. Something he has been sharing with all those farmers and ranchers he has been meeting with.
Dolcini: “There were two primary factors associated with the reduced acreage that we accepted this go around. One was the declining commodity prices, which made programs like CRP more interesting to farmers. The other was the 24 million acre cap in the 2014 Farm Bill. We just didn’t have as many acres available as we had historically which made this the most competitive sign-up we’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Our region did better than average than the 18 percent of offers accepted into CRP overall in the U.S. In Idaho was 25 percent, Oregon had 33 percent, Colorado was 31 percent and 51 percent in Washington. Dolcini provides some suggestions for ag producers whose acres were not re-enrolled into the CRP program this sign up period.
Dolcini: “The first place I always recommend that farmers and ranchers go is to go to the local county office and have a good conversation with the CED. Do a little brainstorming about what kind of land you want to protect or conserve. If it is marginally pasture land — there is probably an option available. There are other CRP programs that will likely have some available acreage later in the year as we look to see what else we can do with the program.”

 

Previous ReportFood Truck Trends
Next ReportBe a Digi-Star Champion Contest Winner