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 Additionally, producers will receive a 10 percent incentive
payment for water quality practices on land enrolled in CRP’s
continuous signup. FSA administers CRP on behalf of the
Commodity Credit Corporation.
Under continuous CRP, producers can enroll environmentally
sensitive land devoted to certain conservation practices with
signup available at any time. FSA automatically accepts offers
provided the land and producer meet certain eligibility
requirements and the enrollment levels do not exceed the number
of acres FSA is allowed to enroll in CRP, which was set by the
2018 Farm Bill.
Signed into law in 1985, CRP is one of the largest 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. The program marks its
35-year anniversary this month. Program successes include:
Preventing more than 9 billion tons of soil from eroding, which
is enough soil to fill 600 million dump trucks;
Reducing nitrogen and phosphorous runoff relative to annually
tilled cropland by 95% and 85%, respectively;
Sequestering an annual average of 49 million tons of greenhouse
gases, equal to taking 9 million cars off the road;
Creating more than 3 million acres of restored wetlands while
protecting more than 175,000 stream miles with riparian forest
and grass buffers, which is enough to go around the world seven
times; and
Benefiting bees and other pollinators and increasing populations
of ducks, pheasants, turkey, bobwhite quail, prairie chickens,
grasshopper sparrows and many other birds.
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The successes of CRP contribute to USDA’s Agriculture
Innovation Agenda and its goal of reducing the environmental
footprint of U.S. agriculture by half by 2050. Earlier this year,
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the
Department-wide initiative to align resources, programs, and
research to position American agriculture to better meet future
global demands.
For more information on CRP, visit fsa.usda.gov, or contact
your local FSA county office.
All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including those that
restrict in-person visits or require appointments. All Service
Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural
Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency
should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that
are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health
concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social
distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face
covering during their appointment. Our program delivery staff will
continue to work with our producers by phone, email, and using
online tools. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
[USDA Farm Service Agency] |
