The Agriculture Department paid landowners more than $1.77 billion in 2023 for the more than 23 million acres of private land in the Conservation Reserve Program.
According to a Monday USDA release, landowners enrolled 3.9 million acres of land in CRP this year. Some 2.3 million acres were enrolled in Grassland CRP, another 927,000 acres were added through General CRP contracts and 694,000 acres were enrolled in Continuous CRP.
The program has seen a 21% increase in the acreage enrolled in the program since 2021, USDA noted, and several changes have been made to CRP since then as well. Some rental rates have been increased, including through the creation of a minimum rental rate for Grassland CRP, increasing payments for water quality practices, and creating a “climate-smart practice incentive” for general and continuous signups targeted toward practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
USDA also changed the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program to allow partners to use cash or technical assistance for fund matching. In addition, it entered into Tribal Nations CREP agreements with the Cheyenne River, Rosebud and Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribes, as well as a Big Sioux River Watershed agreement with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks.
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“Through the addition of tools to sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better quantify these efforts, while also bringing into the fold more Tribes and underserved producers, we’ve made the Conservation Reserve Program better for our nation’s natural resources and for our agricultural producers and landowners,” Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Despite the changes, CRP's enrollment remains short of its 27-million-acre cap from the 2018 farm bill.
Iowa landowners received more than $402 million in CRP payments in 2023, the most of any state. Landowners from Illinois and Minnesota followed, receiving $172 million and $150 million, respectively.
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