A federal program designed to protect environmentally sensitive farmland may be losing some of its luster.
Thousands of U.S. farmers have a decision to make this month, as they must choose to either keep their acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) or put those acres into crop production.
Limited harvesting of hay on Conservation Reserve Program acres will now be allowed in most of Iowa’s counties, following an announcement Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has backed away from a proposal to release more conservation lands for crop production.
A federal court has temporarily halted an emergency release of conservation lands for livestock feed.
Most of Iowa’s farmland enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program will now be released for livestock grazing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released CRP acres for livestock grazing in 97 of Iowa’s 99 counties on Monday. The release of CRP acres in Iowa and 15 other states will allow the conservation land to be used for [...]