Conservation Reserve Program Improvement Act of 2023

Costa, Jim

Conservation Reserve Program Improvement Act of 2023 This bill revises the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) of the Farm Service Agency. CRP is a land conservation program that provides an annual rental payment to farmers in exchange for farmers removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental health and quality. Specifically, the bill permanently establishes a continuous enrollment procedure for land that will be enrolled under the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Initiative. Additionally, the bill provides federal cost sharing payments for the establishment of grazing infrastructure on all CRP contracts and practices, if grazing is included in the conservation plan and addresses a resource concern. It also provides federal cost sharing payments under CRP for management activities to implement the conservation plan that are not related to haying or grazing. Further, the bill increases the CRP annual rental payment limitation from $50,000 to $125,000.