The United States Department of Agriculture announced open enrollment for the federal Conservation Reserve Program. According to the Idaho Farm Service Agency, the federal government is offering to pay landowners higher payments to enroll land in the program.
Though the money would help many farmers during the current hard economic times, the higher payments may cause a problem or the agriculture industry in Idaho. More people will enroll land which means a large portion of Idaho’s farmland will be out of commission. Landowners have been offered three times as much for land this year than previous years.
Contracts with the Conservation Reserve program require that land lay fallow for 10 to 15 years. This is done voluntarily. The land is then seeded with grass or a ground cover to avoid erosion. The United States Department of Agriculture is looking to enroll 32 million acres across the United States.
Click here for more information on the program.
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