More than 14,000 producers and landowners may be eligible to re-enroll their land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) continuous sign-up if their contracts expire on Sept. 30, 2007. "More than 300,000 acres enrolled under these contracts are scheduled to leave the program at the end of September," said Floyd Gaibler, agriculture deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services. "Re-enrolling these acres is an important conservation decision because continuous sign-up contracts involve some of the nation's most environmentally sensitive land."
Of the 300,000 acres eligible to leave the program, about 71,800 acres are in major corn-producing states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio).
Farmers and ranchers with general sign-up CRP contracts that expire Sept. 30 who did not take advantage of the last year's re-enrollment or extension offer also may be eligible for the continuous sign-up. Farm Service Agency officials began notifying general sign-up CRP contract holders of this possibility last month. In addition, producers with land eligible for the continuous sign-up may, in some cases, be eligible for the special incentives of CRP's Farmable Wetlands Program.
For more information about CRP, visit your local USDA Service Center or www.fsa.usda.gov.