USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) — Pennsylvania

Federal-state partnership providing rental payments and cost-share for retiring sensitive agricultural lands and installing riparian buffers, wetlands, and grass filter strips.

CREP is a voluntary land retirement program that provides annual rental payments, sign-up incentives, and cost-share for installing conservation practices on environmentally sensitive cropland and pasture. In Pennsylvania, CREP focuses on the Susquehanna and Ohio basins, targeting riparian buffers, wetland restoration, and grass filter strips.Contracts run 10-15 years with annual rental payments plus 100% cost coverage for practice installation. PA CREP has installed thousands of acres of buffers since 2000 and remains the largest single conservation cost-share program in the state.Watershed groups should help promote enrollment among member farmers — it stacks well with REAP and CEG.