USDA announces Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up for 2024

SPRINGFIELD – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that agricultural producers and private landowners can begin signing up for the general Conservation Reserve Program through March 29.

This conservation opportunity gives producers tools to conserve wildlife habitats while achieving other conservation benefits, including sequestering carbon and improving water quality and soil health.

“The USDA has a long track record of fostering and supporting the vital relationship between agriculture and conservation, and the Conservation Reserve Program helps our producers be good stewards of their lands and boost wildlife populations at the same time,” said Scott Halpin, Farm Service Agency state executive director in Illinois. “These efforts demonstrate the power of USDA’s Farm Bill conservation programs to conserve wildlife habitat, protect clean water and address climate change in partnership with farmers, ranchers, forest owners and conservation organizations across the country.”

On Nov. 16, 2023, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 6363, the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Pub. L. 118-22), which extended the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334), more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, through Sept. 30, 2024. This extension allows authorized programs, including the CRP, to continue operating.

As one of the largest private lands conservation programs in the U.S., the CRP offers a range of conservation options to farmers, ranchers and landowners. It has been an especially strong opportunity for farmers with less productive or marginal cropland, helping them reestablish valuable land cover to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and support wildlife habitat, according to a news release sent from the USDA.

Producers and landowners enrolled about 926,000 acres in the general CRP in 2023, bringing the total enrolled acres in general CRP to 7.78 million. This, combined with all other acres in the CRP through other enrollment opportunities such as the grassland and continuous CRP, brings the current total of enrolled acres to 24.8 million.

The general CRP helps producers and landowners establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees, to control soil erosion, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat on cropland.

Additionally, the general CRP includes a climate-smart practice incentive to help increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by helping producers and landowners establish trees and permanent grasses, enhance wildlife habitat and restore wetlands.

The general CRP is one of several ways that agricultural producers and private landowners can participate in the program.

Other CRP options

In January, the FSA began accepting applications for the continuous CRP. Under this enrollment, producers and landowners can enroll in the CRP throughout the year. Offers are automatically accepted provided that the producer and land meet eligibility requirements and enrollment levels do not exceed the statutory cap.

The USDA also offers financial assistance to producers and landowners enrolled in the CRP to improve the health of their forests through the forest management incentive, which can help participants with forest management practices such as brush management and prescribed burning.

The FSA will announce the dates for the grassland CRP sign-up in the near future.

Producers with expiring CRP acres can use the Transition Incentives Program, which incentivizes producers who sell or enter a long-term lease with a beginning, veteran or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who plans to sustainably farm or ranch the land.

Landowners and producers interested in the CRP should contact their local USDA service center to learn more or to apply for a program before its deadline.