USDA opened enrollment into its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) with higher payment rates, new incentives and a larger focus on climate change mitigation.
“We need to invest in CRP and let it do what it does best—preserve topsoil, sequester carbon, and reduce the impacts of climate change,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The department’s goal is to enroll up to 4 million new acres by adjusting soil rental rates, increasing payments for practice incentives from 20 to 50 percent, increasing payments for water quality practices and establishing a CRP Grassland minimum rental rate.
