MINOT (AP) - The amount of North Dakota land enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program is increasing slightly this fall, federal officials say.

The federal Farm Service Agency, which oversees CRP enrollments, says the state will have an additional 21,434 acres of CRP land beginning Oct. 1.

Current CRP contracts on 21,646 acres expire Sept. 30. The following day, new contracts go into effect covering 43,080 acres.

The contracts are for 10 years. The CRP pays farmers to idle land that is considered erodible or environmentally fragile.

Despite the small increase in acreage, the CRP program may actually be losing its appeal among some North Dakota landowners.

"It's not that popular. Some counties had less than 10 applications," said Jim Jost, a CRP specialist with the Farm Service Agency. "Interest in landowners putting additional land into the program may be diminishing."

Prospective CRP land must meet certain criteria under federal guidelines.

North Dakota had 1,165 applications for the 2006 enrollment period, but only 559 were determined acceptable. Nationally, about 1.4 million acres were proposed for CRP status and just over 1 million acres met minimum standards.

The national average rental rate is slightly more than $53 per acre per year.

While CRP acreage provides income for landowners, it also is credited with improving water quality and boosting wildlife populations.

"We're interested in the changes to the North Dakota landscape if we start losing significant acres of CRP," said Kevin Kading, a private lands program section leader for the state Game and Fish Department.

CRP contracts involving 1.7 million acres are set to expire in 2007.

Landowners whose CRP contracts expire next were notified in February, and 84 percent indicated they wanted to extend their CRP contracts.

"That amounts to 1.4 million acres," Jost said. "We'll likely see a decrease of 300,000 acres of CRP in October of 2007."