Grazing Lands: How Much CRP Land Will Remain in Grass?

Abstract

The Conservation Reserve Program of the 1985 Food Security Act, through the eighth signup, has retired 30.6 million acres of highly erodible cropland. However, the 10-year CRP contracts will begin to expire in 1996. Fundamental economic trends do not indicate clearly whether CRP land will be needed for either crop or livestock production when contracts expire. Given present expectations of future agricultural markets we anticipate no more than twenty percent of the land now in the CRP to remain in grass. Three sets of factors will influence landowners’ decisions: long-term relative economics of crop and livestock production; direct and indirect incentives in existing and proposed agricultural policy; and the characteristics of CRP landowners.