A Victory for the Next Generation of Sustainable and Organic Farmers: USDA Agrees to Implement the CRP Transition Option Early in 2010

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A Victory for the Next Generation of Sustainable and Organic Farmers!

USDA has agreed to implement the CRP Transition Option Early in 2010.

From the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC):
In October, NSAC delivered a petition to Secretary Vilsack signed by 80 grassroots family farm organizations and nearly 7,500 individuals asking him to immediately implement the Conservation Reserve Program Transition Option.  The Transition Option will offer incentives to land owners enrolled in the CRP to sell or lease the land to beginning or minority producers using sustainable or organic farming practices when their CRP contracts expire.

The Option was included in the 2008 Farm Bill and was fully funded but much to our dismay, USDA was planning to delay implementation of the CRP Transition Option for at least two years!  Grassroots pressure was key to convincing USDA to reverse course.  In response to your petition, USDA has announced it will implement the CRP transition option early in 2010.

And thank you for helping to transform our food system.  Change happens at the transition.  An aging farmer population, a new generation of organic and sustainable farmers desperate for access to land, 4.2 million acres of land about to come out of the Conservation Reserve Program –  together these present a tremendous opportunity for transformational change.