USDA will hold a general signup for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Jan. 31-March 31 and a Grassland CRP signup April 4-May 13. USDA said 4.6 million acres were enrolled in CRP during 2021, with 1.88 million enrolled via a general signup and 2.5 million put in the program via the Grassland CRP effort. At the end of December, there were 22.1 million acres of land in CRP, down slightly from 22.25 million at the end of November.
Farmers can also enroll acres into the program via the Continuous CRP effort with 19,385 acres enrolled so far in FY 2022. There were 864,594 acres enrolled via the Continuous CRP effort in FY 2021. There are contracts on 3.98 million acres that are set to expire under CRP as of Sept. 30, including 3.42 million acres enrolled via general signups and 560,000 via Continuous CRP efforts.
Perspective: Despite USDA’s declaration it is seeking to get program acreage near the cap of 25.5 million in FY 2022, the program was still well shy of the FY 2021 cap of 25 million acres — there were 20.5 million acres in CRP as the end of September, with contracts on 2.99 million acres maturing as of Sept. 30. It is not clear how USDA intends to move the acreage level substantially higher on CRP given that many of the contracts that expire in the program often are offered for re-enrollment under new contracts. CRP is a major part of the Biden administration’s strategy to use agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Future incentives to idle acreage could be part of coming carbon mitigation programs relative to a slimmed down Build Back Better program that could still be passed by Congress.
