Some young and beginning farmers say they have lost access to cropland because the owners could get a higher rental rate from USDA’s Conservation Reserve than they could by renting it, said Iowa Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The senators said they have heard complaints from Iowans over the past few months about USDA’s operation of the reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent to idle farmland for 10 years or longer.
“We have not be able to explain why so many high-quality farms have been enrolled as opposed to more marginal lands,” the Republican senators say in the letter. They suggest USDA’s formula for setting rental rates is slower to adjust to the downturn in commodity prices than leases between farmers. “We look forward to working with you to make certain CRP (the Conservation Reserve Program) strikes the right balance for all stakeholders in rural America.”
USDA data indicate that enrollment in the Conservation Reserve in Iowa is up by 205,000 acres since last fall, to 1.689 million acres. The increase was due to landowners enrolling land in the reserve through the so-called continuous signup provision, which includes practices such as shelter belts, filter strips along waterways and wildlife habitat. The average rental rate paid to Iowa landowners is $188.42 an acre, up from $162.10 an acre in 2015 because of the higher rates paid for the most environmentally sensitive land.
Nationwide, 23.9 million acres were enrolled in the reserve at an average annual payment of $72.57 per acre.