Next, the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) will pay out, in 2008, an average of $4131 per farm, not quite $50 per acre nationwide. There aren't exactly huge profits in CRP for a farmer or corporation when corn, wheat, soybeans, and most other crops are selling at record prices (such as $5/bushel corn). In fact, most of the talk here in AG-land is how farming is pulling land out of the CRP program due to the high grain prices being paid.
The FSA typically requires 10-15 year CRP contracts, so "playing the market" is pretty tough - nothing is taken out of production for 15 years unless the land is pretty poor to begin with.
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