USDA
Announces new conservation opportunities to improve water quality
and restore wildlife habitat
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[December 13, 2016]
USDA will offer farmers and ranchers more opportunities to
participate in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The
announcement includes new CRP practices to protect water quality and
adds an additional 1.1 million acres targeted to benefit wildlife,
pollinators and wetlands.
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The new conservation initiative known as Clean Lakes, Estuaries
and Rivers (CLEAR) will add new tools to CRP that can help to
improve water quality. CLEAR will assist landowners with the
cost of building bioreactors and saturated buffers that filter
nitrates and other nutrients from tile-drained cropland. Early
estimates indicate that CLEAR could help to reduce nitrate
runoff by as much as 40 percent over traditional conservation
methods. CLEAR may cover up to 90 percent of the cost to install
these new practices through incentives and cost-share. These new
methods are especially important in areas where traditional
buffers have not been enough to prevent nutrients from reaching
bodies of water.
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USDA will also add an additional 1.1 million acres to a number
of key CRP practices that are critically important to wildlife
and conservation. These include 700,000 acres for State Acres
for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) efforts, which restore
high-priority wildlife habitat tailored to a specific state’s
needs. In addition to SAFE, 300,000 acres will be added to
target wetlands restoration that are nature’s water filters and
100,000 acres for pollinator habitat that support 30 percent of
agricultural production.
The continued strong demand for CRP combined with the limited
acreage available for enrollment and lower land rental rates,
allows USDA to modify certain program components without
affecting the integrity of the program. Signing incentives are
being reduced by $25 per acre on certain practices for fiscal
year 2018 enrollments (incentives are currently between $100 and
$150 per acre) and a cap on the maximum soil rental rate is
being instituted for Continuous CRP at $300 per acre. The
savings from these changes are being reinvested back in CRP,
including the additional acres for SAFE, pollinator habitat and
wetlands restoration.
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To learn more about FSA’s conservation programs, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation
or contact your local FSA office. To find your local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
Questions?
Please contact your local County FSA Office with any questions regarding this
message.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint
of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil
Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC
20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339
(Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
[United States Department of
Agriculture, Farm Service Agency]
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