The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting more than 1 million acres in this year’s Conservation Reserve Program General signup. This is one of several signups that USDA’s Farm Service Agency is holding for the program.
The signup’s results include 4,159 acres in Wisconsin.
“This year’s General CRP signup demonstrates the value and continued strength of this voluntary conservation program, which plays an important role in helping mitigate climate change and conserve our natural resources,” says Wisconsin Executive Director Gene Schriefer. “USDA will continue working to
ensure producers and landowners have the information they need to take advantage of the options that work best for their operations.”
Offers for new land in this General CRP signup totaled about 295,000 acres nationwide. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for 891,000 expiring acres, reflecting the successes of participating in CRP longer term.
The total number of CRP acres will continue to climb in the coming weeks once FSA accepts acres from the Grassland CRP signup, which closed May 26. Additionally, FSA has received 761,000 offered acres for the Continuous CRP signup, for which FSA accepts applications year-round. The number of accepted acres that are enrolled in General CRP will be confirmed later this year.
Participating producers and landowners should also remember that submitting and accepting a CRP offer is the first step, and producers still need to develop a conservation plan before contracts become effective on Oct. 1, 2023. Each year, during the window between offer acceptance and land enrollment, some producers ultimately decide not to enroll some accepted acres, without penalty.
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