Macon County landowners had about 18,270 acres enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program at the end of the 2025 fiscal year, down 45% from 33,433 acres a decade earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency.
The county's enrollment peaked at about 52,353 acres in 2002 and is now down about two-thirds from that high, according to the agency's county history tables, posted in May. Enrollment ticked up slightly in 2025 from about 17,994 acres a year earlier, the first increase since 2016.
The program pays landowners yearly rent to take highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive land out of crop production and plant it to grass, trees, or other cover. Contracts typically run 10 to 15 years, according to the agency. Payments are based on soil productivity and the average cash rental rates in the county.
Fewer acres mean less federal rent flowing into the county. Contracts on Macon County land under the program in fiscal 2025 carried about $2.52 million in rental payments, paid in the following fiscal year, compared with about $3.2 million for the 2015 fiscal year, according to the agency. The tables are based on contract data, not actual payments.
The rate per acre has risen as acres have fallen. The average rental payment on Macon County land under contract climbed from about $96 an acre in 2015 to about $138 in 2025.
The agency's 2026 county average soil rental rate for Macon County dryland is $139 an acre, up from $105, according to rate tables the agency posted in February. That 32% jump was the largest among Macon and its seven bordering counties.
The new rate is slightly above the USDA's 2026 survey average cash rent for non-irrigated cropland in Macon County. The Macon Chronicle reported Oct. 14 that the survey put that rent at $135 an acre, down from $139 in 2025. The two figures are measured differently and are not a direct comparison of what a given field would earn.
Every county that borders Macon has also lost conservation reserve acres since 2015. Here are the acres under contract at the end of fiscal 2025, with the change since fiscal 2015 and the 2026 county average dryland rate, according to the agency:
- Adair: 7,543 acres (down 59%); $128
- Chariton: 17,147 acres (down 29%); $172
- Knox: 16,649 acres (down 25%); $173
- Linn: 33,816 acres (down 20%); $148
- Macon: 18,270 acres (down 45%); $139
- Monroe: 14,718 acres (down 41%); $156
- Randolph: 12,705 acres (down 34%); $144
- Shelby: 11,953 acres (nearly unchanged); $163
Adair County lost the largest share of its acres over the decade, and Macon County the second largest. Linn County has the most acres enrolled of the eight counties, and Shelby County's enrollment held steady.
The 2026 rate fell slightly in Adair, Randolph, and Shelby counties and rose in the other five counties.
Hannah Strain, the Farm Service Agency's public affairs and outreach coordinator in Missouri, and Mark Collins, a district technician with the Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District, were asked by email Friday morning about the decline in enrolled acres and the higher rate. Chariton Media Group did not receive a response in time for publication.