Posted October 29, 2013
Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, recently announced that USDA has begun distributing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments, 2013 direct payments, and 2012 Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program payments. Payments were scheduled earlier, but were delayed due to the lapse in federal funding, according to the USDA news release available here. Agri-Pulse also covered the story here.
Vilsack said, “Farmers, ranchers and rural landowners across the country count on USDA programs and the payment delays due to the shutdown were an unnecessary burden…USDA has prioritized making these scheduled payments without any further delay and Farm Service Agency staff have worked hard to get this assistance out the door as quickly as possible.”
In exchange for an annual rental payment provided by USDA under contracts ranging from 10 to 15 years, farmers and ranchers enrolled in CRP agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant grasses or trees that will improve water quality and improve waterfowl and wildlife habitat. Producers will receive payments on almost 700,000 CRP contracts on 390,000 farms covering 26.8 million acres.
Direct payments for 2013 for the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) and ACRE programs are being distributed to over 1.7 million farmers enrolled in the programs.
For more information on commodity programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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