La. farmers sign up for wetlands program

U.S. agriculture officials say a record number of Louisiana farmers signed up this year for a program to turn little-used farm land into wetlands.

In Louisiana, 22,544 acres were included in the Wetlands Reserve Program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Across the U.S., more than 272,000 acres were included in the program this year, bringing the total amount of farmland being converted to wetlands to more than 2.3 million acres nationwide.

Landowners get technical and financial help through the program to turn marginal farmland into wetlands.