FSA: CRP sign‑ups paused as farm‑bill extension remains unset
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Summary
FSA staff told Nebraska partners that, without a new farm bill or extension, the agency cannot accept or process new CRP offers, conduct site visits, or approve contract revisions that increase enrolled acres; payments for contracts approved before Sept. 30 continue.
Julie Patzel, a conservation specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Nebraska, told the State Technical Committee that FSA cannot process any Conservation Reserve Program offers while Congress has not enacted a new farm bill or extension. "So because we are running without a farm bill or without an extension, as of October 1st, FSA cannot process any offers for CRP enrollment on any sign up type," Patzel said. She added that county offices will not accept manual or automated offers and NRCS cannot perform site visits or conservation-planning work needed to prepare offers for approval.
The pause does not affect payments for contracts already approved before Sept. 30, Patzel said; those agreements will be paid as submitted. But she cautioned that contract revisions, corrections or any action that would increase CRP acres or approve new CRP‑1 contracts are on hold because approving such actions without an appropriation could violate the Anti‑Deficiency Act.
Patzel provided statewide figures to show scale: roughly 2,400,000 acres of CRP are currently enrolled in Nebraska across more than 21,000 contracts, and the agency issued about $96.5 million in CRP payments in October. She noted that average rental rates cited in statewide summaries can be misleading because grassland enrollments, which pay far less per acre, are included in the averages.
Committee members asked whether the pause represents a temporary operational blip or a material barrier to enrollment and producer planning. Patzel said continuous sign‑up processes are impeded until a farm‑bill extension is passed; in prior years, when short extensions were approved, FSA batched offers and national acreage caps determined approvals.
The agency encouraged producers and partners to use available online resources and to participate in upcoming local work group meetings that NRCS and FSA have scheduled to explain options and timelines. Patzel said FSA staff are reviewing all contract revisions and cost‑share approvals statewide to ensure no action would expand enrolled acres while the agency lacks explicit authorization.