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Time running out to apply for Conservation Reserve Program

A Farm Service Agency official says landowners that want to enroll acreage in one of the Conservation Reserve Program options are running out of time.

Ian Krause tells Brownfield the continuous signup and general signup enrollments need to be done by June 6^th. 

Krauss says the Conservation Reserve Program is functionally the same except for one difference with the continuous signup CRP that is similar to last year because of the 2018 Farm Bill. “We have that 27-million acreage cap associated to it, so to make sure we’re staying under that farm bill cap, we do have the batching process going for continuous signup so that will be approved in bulk rather than as they are submitted.”

Krause says applying now gives landowners the best opportunity to sign up for the CRP program because the acreage cap is across several programs nationwide. “The earlier we can apply, I think it would be the better because the continuous signup does work as that first-come first-serve, but it’s all really going to depend on what kind of interest we see nationwide because between continuous signup, general signup, and grassland signup, we want to make sure those acreages are split out.”

Krause says farmers re-enrolling land where contracts expire this year should also act quickly as they do not get a priority over new applications.

And for Wisconsin, Krause says that impacts many farms. “Statewide, we have about 885 contracts set to expire this year, and that is around 12,000 acres.”

Krause says FSA has a great partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and local county NRCS officials can help farmers and landowners determine what works best on the farm.

AUDIO: Ian Krause at Wisconsin’s Farm Service Agency discusses CRP signups with Brownfield’s Larry Lee