By Max Fisher, Vice President of Economics and Government Relations
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released the 2020 county average cash rental rates for non-irrigated cropland that will serve as the starting point for calculating rental rate offers for this year’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signups. The current CRP general signup is open until Feb. 28 and a CRP continuous signup is open and will be ongoing.
Importantly, the 2018 farm law for the first time imposed statutory limits on rental rates, as advocated by NGFA. For the current CRP general signup, the CRP rental rate limit is 85 percent of the 2020 county average cash rental rate for non-irrigated cropland. Meanwhile, CRP continuous enrollment rental rates mandated under the farm law are to be adjusted to 90 percent. The limits are before adjustments for soil productivity.
However, the 2018 farm law also included a provision that enables state Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices and CRP Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program partners to propose alternative CRP rental rates to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) county average cash rental rates for non-irrigated cropland, which, in the absence of the statutory caps, otherwise would serve as the basis for FSA’s CRP rental rates.
For the 2020 CRP signups, USDA awarded higher rental rates to 121 counties and lower rental rates were provided to only six counties, exhibiting bias toward higher rental rates by FSA.
The following state FSA offices petitioned and were granted higher rental rates than the statistically-based rates calculated by NASS: Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota. Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
State FSA offices for Iowa, Pennsylvania and South Carolina petitioned and were provided granted lower rental rates.
CRP currently has 22 million acres enrolled, with contracts totaling 4.5 million acres set to expire on Sept. 30, 2020. USDA estimates that approximately 7 million acres are available for enrollment under the upcoming signup. The contract period for new enrollments will begin on Oct. 1, 2020.
The 2018 farm law increased the CRP acreage limit from 24 million acres to 24.5 million acres in 2020, 25 million acres in 2021, 25.5 million acres in 2022 and 27 million acres in 2023.
Despite the biased upward adjustment to CRP rental rates for 121 counties, NGFA is appreciative of Congress’s intent to limit CRP rental rates to better target CRP to marginal land and enable more productive land to serve American agriculture’s ability to compete in domestic and international markets. By reducing CRP rental rates overall, CRP enrollments will be more focused on less productive land. This policy change will benefit young and beginning farmers and ranchers, who for too long have been forced to bid directly against the federal government to access land.
Below are the counties that were granted different 2020 county average non-irrigated cash rental rates to use as the starting point for calculating per-acre rental rate offers for this year’s CRP signups:
| STATE | COUNTY | 2020 County Average Non-Irrigated Cash Rental Rate Used for CRP Offers | 2020 NASS County Average Non–Irrigated Cash Rental Rate | Plus-up or Decrease from NASS Rate |
| Arkansas | Lincoln | $53 | $23 | $30 |
| Arkansas | Faulkner | $51 | $31 | $20 |
| Arkansas | Monroe | $80 | $61 | $19 |
| Arkansas | Lawrence | $61 | $43 | $19 |
| Arkansas | Pope | $43 | $27 | $17 |
| Arkansas | Jackson | $63 | $50 | $14 |
| Arkansas | Lonoke | $43 | $30 | $13 |
| Arkansas | Randolph | $33 | $21 | $12 |
| Arkansas | Conway | $37 | $26 | $12 |
| Arkansas | Pulaski | $40 | $29 | $11 |
| Arkansas | Phillips | $87 | $77 | $10 |
| Arkansas | Independence | $37 | $28 | $9 |
| Arkansas | Miller | $23 | $15 | $9 |
| Arkansas | Yell | $28 | $21 | $8 |
| Arkansas | White | $26 | $19 | $7 |
| Arkansas | Perry | $20 | $15 | $5 |
| Arkansas | Drew | $19 | $15 | $4 |
| Idaho | Oneida | $31 | $27 | $4 |
| Idaho | Power | $31 | $27 | $4 |
| Idaho | Bannock | $21 | $18 | $4 |
| Illinois | Johnson | $75 | $57 | $18 |
| Indiana | Pike | $180 | $155 | $25 |
| Indiana | Martin | $170 | $156 | $14 |
| Indiana | Harrison | $108 | $100 | $9 |
| Iowa | Mahaska | $218 | $233 | ($15) |
| Iowa | Scott | $256 | $277 | ($21) |
| Kansas | Johnson | $65 | $46 | $20 |
| Kansas | Graham | $39 | $36 | $3 |
| Kansas | Ness | $37 | $34 | $3 |
| Kansas | Trego | $38 | $35 | $3 |
| Kentucky | Knott | $64 | $40 | $24 |
| Kentucky | Marshall | $106 | $85 | $21 |
| Kentucky | Clinton | $74 | $60 | $14 |
| Kentucky | Grayson | $105 | $103 | $2 |
| Minnesota | Lincoln | $186 | $169 | $17 |
| Mississippi | Quitman | $109 | $97 | $12 |
| Mississippi | Stone | $45 | $34 | $12 |
| Mississippi | Attala | $61 | $53 | $9 |
| Mississippi | Greene | $34 | $26 | $9 |
| Mississippi | Pearl River | $19 | $15 | $4 |
| Mississippi | Clarke | $15 | $13 | $2 |
| Mississippi | Walthall | $26 | $24 | $2 |
| Missouri | DeKalb | $136 | $119 | $17 |
| Missouri | Linn | $134 | $117 | $17 |
| Missouri | Sullivan | $102 | $86 | $16 |
| Missouri | Grundy | $140 | $125 | $15 |
| Missouri | Holt | $180 | $165 | $15 |
| Missouri | Johnson | $78 | $75 | $4 |
| Nebraska | Sheridan | $31 | $24 | $8 |
| Nebraska | Frontier | $60 | $56 | $4 |
| Nebraska | Red Willow | $61 | $59 | $2 |
| New York | Delaware | $27 | $24 | $3 |
| North Dakota | Dunn | $30 | $27 | $3 |
| Ohio | Ashland | $125 | $111 | $14 |
| Pennsylvania | McKean | $39 | $21 | $18 |
| Pennsylvania | Jefferson | $32 | $21 | $11 |
| Pennsylvania | Clearfield | $32 | $22 | $10 |
| Pennsylvania | Potter | $39 | $30 | $9 |
| Pennsylvania | Northumberland | $84 | $104 | ($20) |
| Pennsylvania | Montour | $56 | $88 | ($32) |
| South Carolina | Georgetown | $39 | $28 | $11 |
| South Carolina | Greenville | $28 | $17 | $11 |
| South Carolina | Greenwood | $17 | $37 | ($20) |
| South Carolina | Hampton | $37 | $70 | ($33) |
| South Dakota | Bennett | $37 | $29 | $8 |
| South Dakota | Oglala Lakota | $25 | $21 | $4 |
| South Dakota | Perkins | $29 | $25 | $4 |
| South Dakota | Miner | $126 | $124 | $2 |
| Tennessee | Washington | $77 | $54 | $23 |
| Tennessee | Meigs | $66 | $50 | $16 |
| Tennessee | Loudon | $56 | $42 | $14 |
| Tennessee | Hamilton | $46 | $33 | $14 |
| Tennessee | Union | $43 | $31 | $12 |
| Tennessee | Benton | $93 | $82 | $11 |
| Tennessee | Rhea | $42 | $31 | $11 |
| Tennessee | Grainger | $41 | $31 | $10 |
| Tennessee | Henry | $113 | $103 | $10 |
| Tennessee | Hancock | $29 | $20 | $9 |
| Tennessee | McMinn | $55 | $46 | $9 |
| Tennessee | Polk | $48 | $39 | $9 |
| Tennessee | Blount | $42 | $34 | $8 |
| Tennessee | Hawkins | $33 | $26 | $7 |
| Tennessee | Knox | $37 | $30 | $7 |
| Tennessee | Claiborne | $29 | $24 | $5 |
| Tennessee | Monroe | $70 | $65 | $5 |
| Tennessee | Johnson | $29 | $27 | $2 |
| Texas | Martin | $33 | $18 | $16 |
| Texas | Donley | $24 | $13 | $12 |
| Texas | Cochran | $37 | $29 | $8 |
| Texas | Parmer | $35 | $28 | $8 |
| Texas | Swisher | $33 | $27 | $7 |
| Texas | Deaf Smith | $34 | $29 | $6 |
| Texas | Collingsworth | $20 | $16 | $4 |
| Texas | Briscoe | $22 | $19 | $3 |
| Texas | Childress | $22 | $19 | $3 |
| Texas | Hockley | $43 | $40 | $3 |
| Texas | Mitchell | $23 | $21 | $3 |
| Texas | Dawson | $29 | $28 | $2 |
| Vermont | Orange | $68 | $47 | $22 |
| Vermont | Caledonia | $47 | $29 | $18 |
| Vermont | Franklin | $93 | $75 | $18 |
| Vermont | Chittenden | $53 | $41 | $13 |
| Vermont | Orleans | $53 | $42 | $11 |
| Vermont | Rutland | $39 | $29 | $11 |
| Vermont | Washington | $50 | $43 | $7 |
| Vermont | Addison | $44 | $41 | $4 |
| Washington | Asotin | $53 | $21 | $33 |
| Washington | Walla Walla | $63 | $47 | $17 |
| Washington | Columbia | $62 | $50 | $12 |
| Washington | Lincoln | $52 | $42 | $10 |
| Washington | Lewis | $64 | $55 | $9 |
| Washington | Okanogan | $44 | $35 | $9 |
| Washington | Franklin | $53 | $46 | $8 |
| Washington | Garfield | $60 | $59 | $2 |
| Wisconsin | Door | $134 | $84 | $50 |
| Wisconsin | Buffalo | $126 | $114 | $12 |
Lacy Holleman
National Grain and Feed Association
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