The federal agricultural department is behind in its enrollment for farmers to leave their land idle. The plan pays incentives for farmers not to farm, but the enrollment is now the lowest its been in decades. The USDA has double its incentives for farmers and ranchers to leave their land alone. The contract can be made for 10 years of idleness up to 15 years. During this time period the Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers, but when the time is up the land can be put back into production. Environmentalists say that 10-15 years is not a long-term solution, as the land creates carbon emissions and cancels out environmental benefits when it is replanted. “I guess my bottom line is, it’s not a great climate solution”, so Ferd Hoefner the founding director for the nonprofit National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Zach Ducheneaus is the overseer for the pro- gram, he is hoping that more farmers will en- roll in the program before the year’s end. With the drought in California, wildfires, and water as a tight resource, more farmers could benefit front the program. The problem with enrollment is that the product being sold from the land or commodity prices are more lucrative
than the program offers. As of right now, the program offers up to 25 million acres of land to be left unworked, with only close to 21 million acres are currently enrolled.
According to the USDA, the program has prevented 12 million tons of Carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Activists argue that this is nothing in comparison with the greenhouse gasses the AG industry produces each year, a staggering 698 million metric tons. It does have some benefits, for example, it pays 2billion dollars each year to farmers and ranchers. Water quality improvement has been noted as well.
One major issue is the type of land being placed in the program. Conservationists worry that in order to meet the numbers of the 25 million acres of land, the administration may qualify any land. There is an index value of land, land that is being used and offsets more carbon, vs land that does not. They are concerned that less carbon-generating land will be accepted into the program and thus waste the tax dollars’ worth. All this is in an effort to make it look like the Biden administration has enrolled more land than was previously enrolled under the Trump administration.
