Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2025
Key claim: HR2758 proposes to expand eligible practices under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program to include dryland agriculture and grazing, revise annual payment structures for drought and water conservation agreements, and exempt CREP payments from the existing $50,000 CRP annual payment cap.
Abstract
(HR2758 · 119th Congress) Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2025 This bill revises the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), which is a component of the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA’s) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CREP is a public-private partnership program which allows states, tribal governments, and nonprofit and private entities to partner with FSA to implement CRP practices. CRP is a land conservation program that provides an annual rental payment to farmers in exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental health and quality. The bill specifies that dryland agricultural uses and grazing are included as appropriate practices under CREP. The bill also allows a land owner or operator to elect to determine the annual payment amount allocated for each year of a CREP agreement, instead of a fixed payment per year for the contract period. For drought and water conservation agreements that include the permanent retirement of water rights, annual payment rates must be equal to the irrigated acre payment rates determined by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the case of an agreement that permits dryland agricultural uses, the annual payment rates must be equal to the difference between the irrigated acre payment rates and the dryland acre payment rates determined by USDA. The payment formula is retroactive for certain existing drought and water conservation agreements. Further, the bill exempts CREP payments from the $50,000 annual payment limitation under CRP. Latest action (2025-04-09): Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Why this matters
CREP is a primary vehicle for channeling federal conservation payments to farmers addressing state-identified resource concerns like water quality and drought. Adjusting eligible practices, payment formulas, and exempting CREP from the CRP $50,000 payment cap could materially change enrollment incentives — potentially increasing participation among larger operations and in dryland/grazing systems — while shifting the mix of land retired versus kept in working conservation use, with indirect effects on regional water availability and commodity supply.