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As of the writing of this column, USDA was still reviewing the possibility of offering an “early-out” option for existing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract acres for the 2009 crop year, in response to the current very tight grain supplies and the need for more acres of crop production in future years. USDA is likely to make a decision on releasing existing CRP acres very soon, in order to allow adequate time for producers to plan for the 2009 growing season. Eligibility of CRP acres for the “early-out” option will likely be determined by the environmental benefits index (EBI) assigned to each CRP contract. The other big question will be how many landowners will opt for an “early-out” option on eligible CRP acres, if that opportunity becomes available in the coming weeks. A big factor may be if the crop acres are eligible for all commodity farm programs under the new Farm Bill, and if all crop base acres and program yields are re-established. Following is the listing of expiring CRP acres on September 30 each year for the next five years:

>   2008 ----- 1.2 million acres
>   2009 ----- 3.9 million acres
>   2010 ----- 4.5 million acres
>   2011 ----- 4.4 million acres
>   2012 ----- 5.6 million acres

As of April 30, 2008, there was a total of 34.7 million acres enrolled in the CRP program, which is down from 36.8 million acres on September 30, 2007. CRP contracts expired on approximately 2.6 million acres on September 30, 2007; however, an additional 515,000 acres have been added to the CRP program since that time through Continuous CRP enrollment and CREP enrollments. Currently there are approximately 30.6 million acres under General CRP contracts, 2.9 million acres under Continuous CRP contracts, and 1.1 million acres under CREP contracts. There has not been a General CRP sign-up in the past couple of years, and no General CRP sign-up is planned in the immediate future. Sign-up for Continuous CRP is on-going, and will continue to be on-going under the New Farm Bill, which was just approved by Congress. Continuous CRP targets the most sensitive environmental land areas, such as filter strips, buffers, wetlands, etc. The CREP Program is a CRP partnership with State Conservation Programs, which target specific watersheds.