CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act of 2025
CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act of 2025 aims to broaden and modernize the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) established under the Food Security Act of 1985. Introduced by Representatives Costa and Feenstra and referred to the House Agriculture Committee, the bill expands enrollment options for wildlife-focused practices, increases program flexibility during emergencies (such as droughts or other natural disasters), and extends financial supports tied to grazing infrastructure and non-hay/grazing management activities. It also raises the annual rental payment limit under CRP. Overall, the bill seeks to make CRP more adaptable to wildlife habitat goals, drought response, and on-farm management needs while expanding the use of cost-sharing and reenrollment options for land with grazing infrastructure. Potential impacts include broader habitat enrollment (especially wildlife enhancement), quicker and more nuanced responses to drought and other emergencies that affect forage, increased support for grazing infrastructure, and greater opportunity for long-term CRP participation through mid-contract management and higher rental-payment caps. These changes could affect landowners, grazing operators, wildlife managers, and state technical committees involved in CRP planning and implementation.
Key Points
- 1State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) continuous enrollment expanded.
- 2- Adds land that will be enrolled under the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement practice to the list of lands eligible for continuous enrollment under CRP.
- 3Emergency haying and grazing rules during the primary nesting season.
- 4- Allows emergency haying in response to drought, flooding, wildfire, or other emergencies during the final 2 weeks of, and outside of, the primary nesting season, on up to 50% of contract acres, with conditions tied to drought designation (D2 or greater), forage losses, or coordination with state technical committees to avoid permanent damage to vegetation and wildlife habitat.
- 5- Introduces a constraint: if haying/grazing would cause long-term damage to cover for wildlife populations, it is not permitted during the final 2 weeks of the nesting season.
- 6Cost sharing for grazing infrastructure; reenrollment of land with grazing infrastructure.
- 7- Expands cost-sharing to cover grazing infrastructure (interior and perimeter fencing, water infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, water tanks) when grazing is part of the CRP plan and addresses a resource concern.
- 8- Reenrollment provision: land that includes grazing infrastructure (established with cost-sharing under CRP) is treated as land already planted for purposes of reenrollment and remains eligible for reenrollment subject to CRP requirements.
- 9Mid-contract management for non-hay/grazing activities.
- 10- Broadens the scope of eligible management activities under CRP to include management activities other than haying or grazing (as defined by the act), with cost-share payments available for these activities.
- 11Higher rental payment cap.
- 12- Increases the payment limitation for rental payments from $50,000 to $125,000.