Farm Conservation Gets Flexible: New Bill Tweaks CREP Payments, Updates Rates for Water Rights & Dryland Use

This bill, the "Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2025," makes some practical changes to how farmers and landowners get paid for conservation efforts under a specific program. It amends the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), part of the Food Security Act of 1985, aiming to give participants more control over their payments and adjust how certain rates are calculated.

Your Land, Your Choice: More Control Over Conservation Cash

One key change is giving landowners and operators more say in how their annual CREP payments are divvied up each year. Instead of a potentially rigid structure, Section 2 of the bill allows participants to decide on the allocation themselves. This offers more flexibility for managing cash flow or directing funds where they're needed most on the farm, aligning the program better with the financial realities landowners face.

Getting Paid Right: New Math for Water Rights & Dryland Farming

The bill also tackles payment rates for specific conservation scenarios. For agreements involving permanent water right retirements (essentially, agreeing not to use certain water access for irrigation forever), the payment rate is set to match what the Secretary of Agriculture determines for irrigated acres in that area. For agreements allowing dryland agricultural uses (farming without irrigation on land previously irrigated), the rate will be the difference between the determined irrigated acre rate and the dryland acre rate. The goal here seems to be creating fairer, more predictable payment structures based on the type of land use and conservation commitment involved.

Bringing Old Deals Up to Speed & Lifting Payment Caps

Importantly, the bill requires the Secretary to update existing CREP agreements signed before this act becomes law. If those older agreements had lower payment rates than the new calculation methods provide, they must be modified to match the updated, potentially higher rates. This ensures folks already in the program aren't left behind. Additionally, the bill amends Section 1234(g) of the Food Security Act to specify that rental payments received under these CREP agreements won't count towards general farm program payment limitations. This could make participating in CREP more attractive, as it won't potentially reduce payments received from other USDA programs.