The Great Plains Conservation Program (GPCP), initiated in 1957, provided cost share and technical assistance to apply conservation on entire farms in 10 Great Plains states from the Dakotas and Montana to Texas and New Mexico. Contracts were limited to $35,000. At the end of 1995, over 6,800 farms in 558 counties with 20 million acres (81,000 km²) were participating. It was replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127).