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USDA to quantify CRP impact on climate change mitigation

The USDA has announced an initiative to quantify the climate benefits of Conservation Reserve Program contracts. USDA’s Farm Service Agency says the program will enable USDA to better target CRP toward climate outcomes and improve existing conservation tools. 

USDA is seeking proposals for projects to survey and measure for a three-to-five-year term to find the climate benefits of land enrolled in CRP practices. Requested CRP land types include predominately perennial grass land with legumes and shrubs, tree land, and wetlands.  

FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux says CRP is a ‘powerful tool’ for implementing measurable conservation practices.  He says further quantifying the program’s benefits will allow for better targeted conservation. Ducheneaux says the nearly 21 million acres currently enrolled in CRP prevent the equivalent of more than 12 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.