USDA issues $2.14 billion in payments
The Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency has begun issuing more than $1.14 billion in conservation and safety-net payments to farmers and landowners, FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said in a news release on Monday. Specifically, program participants are expected to receive more than $1.7 billion through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and CRP Transition Incentive Program (CRP TIP), and more than $447 million through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Prices Loss Coverage (ARC/PLC) programs.
FSA also announced $21 million for projects to better measure the effectiveness of CRP.
“Conservation and safety net program payments are significant investments in preserving and protecting our valuable and vulnerable natural resources and they provide protection for producers impacted by market volatilities,” said Ducheneaux.
“These programs support voluntary land stewardship and provide agricultural producers with risk protection and production stability, keeping them in business and feeding the world.” The duration of CRP contracts is between 10 and 15 years.
FSA accepted offers for more than 2.2 million acres through this year’s Grassland, General, and Continuous CRP signups, bringing enrollment to nearly 26 million acres, Ducheneaux said. Top five states for current acreage in CRP:
- Colorado: 2,978,741
- South Dakota: 2,626,430
- Nebraska: 2,423,361
- Texas: 2,225,310
- Kansas: 2,040,412
USDA has also started to issue payments to producers of 2023 crops that are estimated at more than $447 million through the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.ARC and PLC provide financial protections to farmers from substantial drops in crop prices or revenue and are vital economic safety nets for most American farms, USDA said.
ARC and PLC program and crop specific data is available online and through local FSA county offices.
–The Hagstrom Report
