Under the new Farm Bill, farmers may get less money for conservation. For 27 years, the popular Conservation Reserve Program has transformed small parcels of land, contributing to cleaner water, more habitat for migrating birds and less soil erosion. But the program has been enrolling fewer acres in recent years and it’s not just budget cuts that could make it smaller still. Harvest Public Media’s Amy Mayer filed this report from Iowa.
The USDA has announced a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program from late May (5/20) through mid-June (6/14).
Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaborative of Kansas Public Radio and other public stations across the Midwest. Find more stories at HarvestPublicMedia dot org.