LEWISTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will accept 1.7 million acres offered under the 45th Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up across the country.

The department received nearly 28,000 offers on more than 1.9 million acres of land, demonstrating CRP’s continuing appeal as one of the nation’s most successful voluntary programs for soil, water and wildlife conservation. The USDA has enrolled nearly 12 million acres in new CRP contracts since 2009; currently there are more than 26.9 million acres enrolled on 700,000 contracts.

CRP is a voluntary program that allows eligible landowners to receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland throughout the duration of their 10 to 15 year contracts.

For information on the program, go to: www.fsa.usda.gov