Farm Service Agency and Commodity Credit Corporation

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) and the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) new rule on the long term policy for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). GAO noted that: (1) the rule would amend the CRP regulations to revise the terms and conditions for enrolling acreage in the CRP to more cost-effectively target the CRP to more environmentally sensitive acreage; (2) in addition, the final rule would update eligibility requirements and consolidate and reorganize existing CRP regulations into one regulation; (3) the Department of Agriculture (USDA) established an effective date for the rule which was less than the 60-day statutory delay because it believed that delaying the effective date would unduly limit the supply of land available for enrollment in the CRP; and (4) USDA, except for the above noted exception, complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.