(NAFB.com) – Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA is accepting more than two million acres in offers from agricultural producers and landowners through the Conservation Reserve Program’s general signup.

It’s the first of the program’s multiple signups occurring this year. With about 3.4 million acres expiring this year, Vilsack encourages producers and landowners to consider the Grassland and Continuous signups, both of which are currently open. “Our conservation programs are voluntary, and at the end of the day, producers are making market-based decisions as the program was designed to allow and encourage,” Vilsack says.

Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for just over half of expiring acres, similar to the rate in 2021. Offers for new land into General CRP were considerably lower than last year’s numbers, with fewer than 400,000 acres being offered versus more than 700,000 acres last year. Producers with accepted acres still need to develop a conservation plan before enrolling on October 1.