diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-standard.yaml b/.github/workflows/check-standard.yaml
index 0f2fe080..be41aa77 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-standard.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-standard.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ jobs:
           - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'devel', http-user-agent: 'release'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'release'}
-          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'oldrel-1'}
 
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 220fa6b2..c78eff4a 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ License: MIT + file LICENSE
 URL: https://github.com/rnabioco/valr/, https://rnabioco.github.io/valr/
 BugReports: https://github.com/rnabioco/valr/issues
 Depends:
-    R (>= 3.1.2)
+    R (>= 4.0.0)
 Imports:
     broom,
     cli,
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d2cffb3b..02bf2128 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # valr (development version)
 
+* valr now depends on R >= 4.0.0.
+
 # valr 0.8.2
 
 * Address NOTE on CRAN about Rd link targets.