A provision in the 2008 Farm Bill that gave Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract holders a financial incentive to transfer their CRP land over to young and minority farmers has now been stalled. The plan would have been a real help to beginner farmers, especially those who desire to implement sustainable or organic farming practices but have an extremely difficult time finding viable agriculture and land. (Productive arable farmland that has not been treated with pesticides or fertilizers for several years)  The original Farm Bill plan provided the CRP landowners with an extra two years worth of program payments for selling or leasing long term to a new farmer.   -But now the program is stalled because the government is scared of law suites from environmental groups; the very types of groups that lobby for more sustainable agriculture and organic farming practices.  (can you say ironic?) The USDA has faced numerous lawsuits in the past over its handling of the CRP land program and now they have decided to put the beginning-farmer program on hold until an environmental impact study can be completed.   With this delay, the program may not be available for a year or more and by then, millions of acres of CRP land could be in the hands of already established farms using conventional commercial farming methods.