Denver — U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology, and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), the subcommittee’s Chair, introduced the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Improvement Act to provide family farmers and ranchers the flexibility they need to conserve water on working lands, while fairly compensating them for retiring their water rights or limiting their water use. U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) introduced companion legislation in the House.
“Colorado’s family farmers and ranchers face a 1,200-year drought, a changing climate, and a hotter and drier future. We must ensure that USDA’s conservation programs live up to their potential. This bipartisan bill will give farmers the flexibility they need to conserve water, protect their way of life, and pass their operations on to future generations of Coloradans,” said Bennet.
“As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology, I’m proud to partner with Ranking Member Senator Bennet in advancing a strong, bipartisan response to the water crisis we are facing out West,” said Marshall. “The CREP Improvement Act is much-needed legislation that will provide Kansas farmers and ranchers the flexibility they need to preserve our water supply for generations to come and receive fair compensation in doing so.”
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), leverages federal and non-federal funds to target specific state, regional, or nationally significant conservation concerns. Traditionally, it provided farmers and ranchers with payments to remove land from production in order to address specific conservation concerns. Each CREP is unique, and in drought-prone regions in Kansas, Colorado, and across the West and the Great Plains, CREP is primarily used to voluntarily reduce water consumption on farmland.
However, the CREP program does not always work as intended, and producers have sought more flexibility to achieve the program’s goals while allowing for alternative water conservation practices and fairer compensation for enrollment in the program. While the 2018 Farm Bill included a provision to allow dryland farming on retired irrigated acres in CREP, USDA still has not implemented this provision fully, and payments on dryland farmed acres are insufficient to encourage participation in key regions where water conservation is a top concern. In the next Farm Bill, adjustments to the CREP program will seek to improve flexibility for farmers participating in the program and advance water conservation efforts.
Specifically, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act would improve the program by:
- Explicitly directing USDA to allow dryland agricultural uses on CREP acreage where appropriate;
- Specifically adding dryland crop production and grazing to the list of appropriate conservation practices for the CREP program;
- Allowing continuous cropping systems, like alfalfa, to be eligible for drought and water conservation CREP agreements;
- Ensuring fairer payments to producers by stipulating that annual payments for drought and water conservation CREP agreements will be equal to the difference between the irrigated acre payment rates and the dryland acre payment rates, as determined by USDA;
- Ensuring that any drought and water conservation agreement that includes the permanent retirement of a water right receives the full irrigated acre payment rate;
- Making the payment formula retroactive for existing drought and water conservation agreements;
- Letting producers choose their payment allocations under the program, instead of a fixed payment per year for the 10-15-year contract period; and
- Waiving CREP payments from the $50,000 annual payment limitation under the Conservation Reserve Program.
“We support creating flexibility in the CREP program to reflect local environmental conditions and to meet unique regional conservation goals,” said Chad Franke, President, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. “These modifications will allow farmers and rural economies to better manage our most precious resource, water. We thank Senators Bennet, Marshall, Hickenlooper, and Moran as well as Representative Boebert for hearing our concerns and for bringing forward the CREP Improvement Act.”
“For over a decade, the Rio Grande CREP has been a vital resource for farmers in the San Luis Valley as they voluntarily work to reduce groundwater pumping. The proposed updates will make the program more accessible and provide greater certainty for producers facing an increasingly uncertain water future—particularly in Subdistrict No. 1, where continued drought has severely limited aquifer recharge. We’re deeply grateful for Senator Bennet’s leadership and long-standing support of this critical program,” said Amber Pacheco, Deputy General Manager, Rio Grande Water Conservation District.
“The proposed improvements to the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program are a significant step forward for agricultural communities, especially in eastern Colorado. By increasing flexibility, enhancing incentives, and recognizing the unique needs of our region, this bipartisan legislation supports water conservation, strengthens rural economies, and helps ensure the next generation can thrive in agriculture,” said Rod Lenz, President, Republican River Water Conservation District. “We appreciate our lawmakers’ continued leadership and commitment to working with producers to protect our most vital resource: water.”
“CFB welcomes the reintroduction of the CREP Improvement Act in the Senate by Senators Bennet and Marshall and the House by Congresswoman Boebert. By removing the $50,000 payment limitation, the playing field for additive water conservation and stewardship will be expanded. We’re grateful for the continued leadership of our Colorado delegation on this bill,” said Carlyle Currier, President, Colorado Farm Bureau.
Bennet and Marshall previously introduced the CREP Improvement Act in 2023.
In addition to Bennet and Marshall, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) cosponsored the bill.
The text of the bill is available HERE.