USDA says no penalty-free CRP release for now

Aug. 1, 2008 - - USDA Secretary Ed Schafer announced Tuesday he had decided not to allow the penalty-free early release of land from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year. In a teleconference, Schafer told reporters several factors influenced his decision, including the fact that the U.S. corn and soybean crops had bounced back from floods in June better than most had thought they would. Schafer noted the market had responded to the steady improvement in crop conditions. “Cash prices for corn are down 25 percent and for soybeans 14 percent from their record highs just last month,” Schafer said. Schafer also pointed out Congress had reduced the amount of land allowed in CRP at any one time from more than 39.2 million acres to 32 million acres as part of the 2008 farm bill. Since there are currently 34.7 million acres in CRP, the amount of land in the program “will have to shrink.”