CRP Under Threat: Is Conservation Keeping Up with Emergency Spending?
At $15.72B, the Conservation Reserve Program is the largest traditional farm subsidy program. But emergency spending now dwarfs it at $64.67B. What does this mean for conservation?
💡 Key Insight
CRP has remained remarkably stable at ~$1.7–1.8B/year, while emergency programs surged to tens of billions. CRP now represents just 10.7% of total farm spending.
What Is the CRP?
The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers not to farm environmentally sensitive land. Landowners receive annual rental payments in exchange for removing cropland from production and planting conservation cover — grasses, trees, or wildlife habitat. With 6,291,255 payments totaling $15.72B, it's the single largest traditional (non-emergency) program in the USDA portfolio.
Steady as She Goes — While Everything Else Explodes
CRP annual spending has been remarkably consistent: from $1.77B in 2017 to $1.81B in 2025. Meanwhile, emergency spending has gone from nearly zero to dominating the entire farm subsidy budget.
| Year | CRP Spending | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $1.77B | 783,825 |
| 2018 | $1.81B | 762,266 |
| 2019 | $1.79B | 740,644 |
| 2020 | $1.77B | 722,259 |
| 2021 | $1.47B | 595,193 |
| 2022 | $1.75B | 690,241 |
| 2023 | $1.75B | 668,111 |
| 2024 | $1.79B | 668,816 |
| 2025 | $1.81B | 659,900 |
Policy Implications
As Congress debates Farm Bill reauthorization, CRP faces pressure from multiple directions. Commodity groups argue the land should return to production. Climate advocates want expanded conservation. And emergency spending keeps growing, competing for the same budget dollars.
The fundamental tension: CRP prevents environmental damage proactively, while emergency programs react to crises after they occur. If climate change increases disaster frequency, the case for preventive conservation only gets stronger — but the political incentives favor visible crisis response.
Read more about conservation vs. commodity spending or explore the full programs list.