Rural Issue

CRP acres need to be more spread out

The ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee has concerns about Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres becoming overly concentrated as commodity prices soften.

During a hearing last week on the status of rural America, Collin Peterson of Minnesota asked Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack for an update on CRP enrollment.

“I would say we have roughly 2 million acres of opportunity, and we think we’re probably going to get requests that exceed that 2 million threshold.  So in that sense it’s competitive.”

Enrolling marginal land back into the program has become an attractive option for farmers faced with tightening margins, and many of those acres are in the Midwest.