USDA accepts more than 3.4 million acres for general signup Conservation Reserve Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced March 26 the acceptance of more than 3.4 million acres in the recently completed general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup, the first general signup enrollments since 2016.

The 2018 farm law established a nationwide acreage limit for CRP, with the total number of acres that may be enrolled capped at 24.5 million acres in 2020 and growing to 27 million by 2023. USDA currently has 22 million acres enrolled within the 24.5 million acreage cap, with contracts totaling 4.5 million acres set to expire on Oct. 1, 2020. 

While the deadline for general CRP signup was Feb. 28, 2020, signups for continuous CRP, Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, CRP Grasslands and the Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP) are ongoing. The CRP Grasslands deadline is May 15, and the SHIPP signup begins March 30, 2020, and ends Aug. 21, 2020.

For state-by-state information on general signup results, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.