Watch for Beneficial CRP Changes

A new change has been announced by the USDA that could provide some benefit to young farmers or other farmers who are just starting out. Getting land to farm has been a challenge to new farmers, and the changes to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) could assist them.

Gene Lucht reports in Missouri Farmer Today, “Some landowners with property in existing CRP contracts would be able to terminate those contracts early without a penalty as long as they are transferring the property to a new or beginning farmer.” Prior to these changes, early termination of a CRP contract would mean the farmer would have to repay all of the previous payment, plus interest. Not all property in CRP contracts is affected by this change, but the USDA is hoping it will help young farmers have easier access to land. This change was made effective on January 9, 2017.

To read more, see Lucht’s full article from Missouri Farmer Today.