News

Legislators urge USDA to finalize Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreement for Illinois

US Senators and Representatives from Illinois are asking USDA to quickly finalize the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreement for the state.  

CREP is a conservation flagship program from USDA that uses a federal-state partnership to address environmental issues. In Illinois it allows farmers to enter contracts to retire frequently flooded or environmentally sensitive cropland to improve soil quality, reduce runoff and nutrient loss, and improve fish and wildlife habitat.

In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack – House ag committee member Cheri Bustos, US Senate Majority Whip and Senate ag committee member Dick Durbin, Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representative Bobby Rush say there is widespread support in Illinois for USDA to re-approve the agreement now that Illinois has the matching funds to support the program. They have also asked the Farm Service Agency to allow payments for additional acres provided by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to serve as the Illinois match, as has been done for 20 years.

The Illinois CREP is the second oldest of its kind with 142,000 acres enrolled and more than $80 million invested since it began.