WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, called on U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to delay the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign-up deadline and provide flexibility for farmers to purchase crop insurance to help counter the unprecedented disruption in global crop markets brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a letter to Vilsack, Boozman stressed prioritizing flexibility so “millions of acres of cropland and pasture that would have otherwise remained idle” can be farmed to “address both inflation and food security concerns.”

Allowing farmers and ranchers additional time to weigh the complex challenges they already face, now made more difficult by added global food security concerns caused by Russia’s ruthless invasion of the sovereign Ukraine, ensures productive agricultural land isn’t prematurely committed to long-term idling, making it unusable for food production at a time when our world is facing the highest food prices ever recorded.

“As I am sure you understand, U.S. farmers are the most efficient in sustainably raising crops and caring for livestock, and they do so in order to feed, clothe and fuel the world. With economic pressures being felt by all of us, and unprecedented aggression causing shock waves across the globe, now is the time for the U.S. to rise to the occasion and ensure food security at home and around the world by facilitating the full utility of productive cropland and pasture across the U.S.,” Boozman wrote.

The letter in its entirety can be read here.