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Allows for Transfer of Certain Conservation Reserve Program Land
to New Farmers; Provides Priority Enrollment in Working Lands Conservation
Programs
Beginning
Jan. 9, 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will offer an early
termination opportunity for certain Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
contracts, making it easier to transfer property to the next generation of
farmers and ranchers, including family members. The land that is eligible for
the early termination is among the least environmentally sensitive land
enrolled in CRP.
This
change to the CRP program is just one of many that USDA has implemented based
on recommendations from the Land Tenure Advisory Subcommittee formed by
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in 2015.
Normally
if a landowner terminates a CRP contract early, they are required to repay all
previous payments plus interest. The new policy waives this repayment if the
land is transferred to a beginning farmer or rancher through a sale or lease
with an option to buy. With CRP enrollment close to the
Congressionally-mandated cap of 24 million acres, the early termination will
also allow USDA to enroll other land with higher conservation value elsewhere.
Acres
terminated early from CRP under these land tenure provisions will be eligible
for priority enrollment consideration into the CRP Grasslands, if eligible; or
the Conservation Stewardship Program or Environmental Quality Incentives
Program, as determined by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
According
to the Tenure, Ownership and Transition of Agricultural Land survey, conducted
by USDA in 2014, U.S. farmland owners expect to transfer 93 million acres to
new ownership during 2015-2019. This represents 10 percent of all farmland
across the nation. Details on the early termination opportunity will be
available starting on Jan. 9, 2017, at local USDA service centers. For more
information about CRP and to find out if your acreage is eligible for early
contract termination, contact your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office or go
online at www.fsa.usda.gov/crp. To locate your
local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
Questions?
Please contact your local FSA Office.
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