USDA questioned about prime farmland in conservation programs

A Minnesota Congressman is concerned that USDA’s conservation programs might be encouraging farmers to idle prime productive farmland.

Minnesota Representative Brad Finstad is a farmer and former USDA State Rural Development Director.  He commented during a House Ag Subcommittee hearing Tuesday while asking Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux if Conservation Reserve Program reforms in the 2018 Farm Bill are achieving the goal of limiting competition for prime farmland. “We’re seeing CRP rates compete with or exceed land values per acre of farm ground.

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