Democrats are preparing to pour money into federal conservation programs as a key way to pay farmers to address climate change. Converting marginal croplands to grass through the Conservation Reserve Program is one way to do it, but the question is whether USDA can get landowners interested in it again.

Providing some parting advice on climate policy, House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said he was introducing legislation that would require the Agriculture Department to take 50 million acres of cropland out of production through the Conservation Reserve Program.

Producers can begin signing up for the Conservation Reserve Program Jan. 4 and CRP Grasslands March 15, USDA has announced. The CRP signup will run through Feb. 12, while the grasslands signup will go through April 23.

Landowners and producers enrolled in 21.9 million acres of the Conservation Reserve Program should begin receiving $1.68 billion in annual rental payments, the Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

The Department of Agriculture will start offering landowners and farmers a chance to enroll in 30-year Conservation Reserve Program contracts starting in July.

The Agriculture Department is accepting 3.4 million acres into the land-idling Conservation Reserve Program following the first general signup in four years.

After a busy two years dominated by farm bill and trade action, commodity groups are now turning their attention to tweaking policies that will enable them to take part in looming sustainability conversations.

President Donald Trump this week goes to India, where he is expected to press Prime Minister Narendra Modi on protectionist moves that apparently scuttled plans for a bilateral trade agreement.