Conservation Reserve Program

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About the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

CRP is a land conservation program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are from 10 to15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.

Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, CRP is one of the largest private-lands conservation program in the United States. Thanks to voluntary participation by farmers and landowners, CRP has improved water quality, reduced soil erosion, and increased habitat for endangered and threatened species.

Producers interested in enrolling in CRP should contact the FSA office at their local USDA Service Center. The Continuous CRP Signup is ongoing.

2021 Enrollment

Producers and landowners enrolled 5.3 million acres through CRP signups, including nearly 2.6 million in the Grassland signup, nearly 1.9 million acres for the General signup, and 902,000 acres for the Continuous signup (as of September 10, 2021). This year’s signup surpassed USDA’s 4 million-acre goal.

For Grassland CRP, producers and landowners submitted offers for nearly 4 million acres, the highest in the signup’s history. Read more in our September 10, 2021 news release.

Meanwhile, Continuous CRP was highly successful in large part because of a recommitment to incentives and partnerships, including the expansion of the Clean Lakes, Estuaries, and Rives Initiative 30-year (CLEAR30) from two regions to nationwide as well as moving State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) practices from the General to the Continuous signup. Read more in our August 23, 2021 news release.

Improvements to CRP

In 2021, FSA introduced higher payment rates, new incentives, and a more targeted focus on CRP’s role in climate change mitigation. To learn more about updates to CRP, read our “What’s New with CRP” fact sheet or our April 21, 2021 news release.

CRP and Climate Mitigation

Through the CRP Climate Change Mitigation Assessment Initiative, FSA will further quantify program benefits to better target CRP toward climate outcomes and improve existing models and conservation planning tools.

In October 2021, USDA awarded a total of $10 million to three partners that will monitor and measure how key CRP practices impact soil carbon. These practices include perennial grasses, tree plantings and wetlands.

To learn more, read the October 12, 2021 news release, May 25, 2021 news release or visit our page on CRP Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation projects.