In tonight’s Evening Edition, read the latest about Conservation Reserve Program contract terminations, cover crop funding, and the weather’s effect on planting progress.
Conservation Reserve Program Contracts
The USDA will allow Conservation Reserve Program participants who are in the final year of their CRP contract to request voluntary termination of their CRP contract following the end of the primary nesting season for fiscal year 2022.
Participants approved for this one-time, voluntary termination will not have to repay rental payments, a flexibility implemented this year to help mitigate the global food supply challenges caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other factors.
Cover Crop Funding
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced $2.6 million in grants on Wednesday to help farmers plant cover crops across 500,000 acres in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Grant recipients include American Farmland Trust, Ducks Unlimited, the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts, the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, and Practical Farmers of Iowa.
Approximately 1,800 farmers will benefit from the technical assistance.
Weather and Planting
Editor Madelyn Ostendorf reports on the drought conditions across the Corn Belt.
For example, Illinois reported an increase in drought acreage this week. Abnormally dry conditions span the top two tiers of northern counties and have expanded to two counties in the south.
In Iowa, farmer Kelly Garrett has received around eight inches of rain since the beginning of the planting season. Now that his more than 7,000 acres are planted, Garrett says his concern has shifted to the long-range forecast.
