Some New CRP Options And Deadlines

I'm Susan Allen, for you farmers that did not get back into the CRP program I have Program Chief Rod Hamilton with the USDA is here to tell you about another possible option and important deadlines.

HAMILTON: About half of the producers who submitted an offer to get into the last general sign up, most of which was on expiring CRP contracts did not get back into the program. We have a provision called the Highly Erodible Land Initiative Continuous CRP, which targets the steepest ground, the most erosive ground and up until this point that enrollment in that program has been limited to new land, in other words land that is not currently in CRP We revised that to allow these contracts that were not successfully enrolled this spring to apply for this program even if it's expiring CRP. So we are going to open that up in the next few days here. Problem with it is the folks that are in that position those with expiring CRP contracts have to get have to get a new contract by September or their land become ineligible for the program . We don't have a huge allocation for this program but we have been coordinating our efforts with our national office and we are hoping that if we do get enough interest to use up our existing allocation that we will be able to get some additional acreage from them.

Applications begin today and contracts need to be in place by Sept. 30, 2016.