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National & World Ag News Headlines |
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Johanns May Reduce CRP Program Acres
USAgNet - 02/12/2007
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Wednesday that he may allow contract holders to withdraw acreage from the
Conservation Reserve Program earlier than they otherwise could, in some cases years earlier.
Johanns said he will make a decision by early summer after watching to see how much additional acreage is planted to corn this
spring. He did not say how many acres would be released.
"There is a need for corn, there is just no doubt about it," Johanns told reporters after a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing
Wednesday.
About 37 million acres of land will be enrolled in the program this year, including nearly 2 million acres in Iowa. USDA has
estimated that 4 million to 7 million acres of CRP land, primarily in the Midwest, could be suitable for growing corn.
Landowners are normally required to keep land in the program for 10 to 15 years. The acreage, which is considered
environmentally sensitive, must be planted to trees or grass while it is enrolled. Landowners receive an annual payment in return.
USDA expects at least 100,000 acres of Iowa land to leave the program when contracts on 497,517 acres of the state's CRP
reserve expire this fall.
The estimate is based on an analysis of contracts on which landowners failed to pay for inspections that are necessary to
re-enroll acreage in the program.
Contracts on another 714,019 acres in Iowa expire from 2008 to 2010. Inspection fees have been paid on 500,956 acres of
that land.
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