(NewsDakota.com/NAFB) – USDA’s Economic Research Service reports that in 2022, Conservation Reserve Program acreage rose to 22 million acres.

USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program was established by Congress in 1985. By 1986, the program began to use contracts to retire highly erodible cropland from crop production for 10–15 years. Enrollment grew quickly, reaching 33 million acres in 1990. After the initial contracts were awarded, program goals expanded to include water quality and wildlife habitat improvements in addition to soil erosion reduction. Between 1990 and 2008, CRP enrollment fluctuated around 33 million acres before falling to a 30-year low in 2021. Annual enrollment caps for eligible land are set at each iteration of the Farm Bill.

Earlier this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced USDA would accept more than one million acres from the signup period this year. Offers for new land in the general signup totaled about 295,000 acres. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for about 891,000 expiring acres.