CRP

Conservation Reserve Program:

The Conservation Reserve Program or CRP has been a very popular USDA program in DeKalb County. DeKalb County currently has 26,000 – 27,000 acres enrolled in the CRP program. The CRP program offers annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to farmers to establish long-term conservation covers such as grass or trees on eligible land for improved soil, water, and wildlife resources. CRP contracts are for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 15 years. CRP is only offered during designated sign up periods. Currently, a sign up is not available. However, continuous CRP signup is still available.

Continuous CRP Signup:

CRP Continuous Sign-up is an ongoing program that allows enrollment of land in riparian buffers, filter strips, grass waterways and other high priority practices without competition. Producers may enroll entire fields as buffers through the continuous sign-up when more than 50% of the field is eligible (through continuous sign-up) and farming is impractical on the remainder of the field. Payments on the remaining acreage are limited to general sign-up rates. Continuous CRP is available at any time.

CRP Wetland Enrollment Pilot Program:

Another Farm Bill program to consider is the CRP Wetland Enrollment Pilot Program. This program allows enrollment of farmed wetland acres in the CRP. This program has been extended to all States. The enrollment is limited to 100,00 acres in any one State but could be increased to 150,000 within three years following a review of enrollment by the Secretary of Agriculture. Wetland acres are to be enrolled through a continuous sign-up similar to that for other high-priority conservation practices. Payments are to be equivalent with those provided to landowners that enroll filter strips in CRP. The CRP Wetland Program contracts can include up to 10 acres of wetland, although not more than 5 would be eligible for payment. However, buffer acreage is limited to 3 times the wetland coverage.

For more information on these program contact Dave Hines or Bill Lambert with Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) at our office.

You can also visit the USDA’s website for more information on this and other 2002 Farm Bill programs at:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/products.html