The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced acceptance of 1.78 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) through 2025 General, Continuous, Grassland, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program enrollments.
According to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), about 25.8 million acres are currently enrolled in CRP, the agency’s flagship conservation program through which landowners, farmers and ranchers voluntarily convert marginal or unproductive cropland into vegetative cover that improves water quality, prevents erosion, restores wildlife habitat and in the case of Grassland CRP, enables participants to conserve grasslands while also continuing most grazing and haying practices.
“What better way to celebrate CRP’s 40th anniversary and mark four decades of voluntary private lands stewardship than to announce an extremely successful 2025 enrollment for CRP’s many program options,” said FSA Administrator Bill Beam. “I think the numbers speak for themselves; America’s agricultural producers recognize the value of preserving and protecting our most sensitive lands and are very committed to conserving our natural resources.”
FSA received offers on more than 2.6 million acres. The program’s total acreage is capped at 27 million acres for fiscal year 2025 of which 1.8 million was available for enrollment, after offsetting for expiring acres and an administrative reserve, making for a highly competitive process for those who submitted offers for CRP.
About 955,795 acres are expiring Sept. 30 this year. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for just over 624,000 acres and offers for enrollment of new land totaled 2 million acres.
Kansas, South Dakota and Colorado hold the top three slots for accepted acres for all 2025 CRP enrollment opportunities.
The American Relief Act, 2025, extended provisions for CRP through Sept. 30, 2025.
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Signed into law in 1985, CRP is one of the largest voluntary private-lands conservation programs in the United States. Originally intended to primarily control soil erosion and potentially stabilize commodity prices by taking marginal lands out of production, the program has evolved over the years, providing many conservation and economic benefits.