The U.S. Department of Agriculture is adding a new water quality program and adding 1.1 million acres to the popular Conservation Reserve Program, Agri-Pulse Communications Inc. reported. Appearing at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting this week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the USDA has established a new Clean Lakes, Estuaries and Rivers (CLEAR) program to improve water quality. The program will help landowners pay for bioreactors and buffers that help reduce runoff. The added CRP acres will be for areas that are “critically important to wildlife and conservation.” Some 700,000 acres are earmarked for State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement efforts, which restore high-priority wildlife habitat; 300,000 acres will be added for wetlands restoration and 100,000 acres for habitat for bees and other pollinators.