The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the final draft of a new crop insurance agreement that will generate $6 billion in savings over the next 10 years, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Of the savings, $4 billion will be applied to reducing the federal deficit. The good news for the conservation community is that the remaining $2 billion will be used in part to "increase Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage to the maximum authorized level; invest in new and amended Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program initiatives; and invest in CRP monitoring," according to USDA.

CRP was capped at 32 million acres in the 2008 Farm Bill. This announcement is particularly timely, with contracts on 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, and with contracts on an additional 14.2 million acres due to expire between 2011 and 2013. In addition, a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on the program should be completed later this summer, which will provide the first general CRP enrollment opportunity since 2006.

CRP enrollment was capped at 39.2 million acres in the 2002 Farm Bill, but enrollment in the program peaked in 2007 at 36.6 million acres. (pmr)