diff --git a/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/apply.go b/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/apply.go
index 832f5a22..0d572a81 100644
--- a/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/apply.go
+++ b/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/apply.go
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ func init() {
 	applyCmd.Flags().StringVar(
 		&applyConfig.retentionDropStepDurationStr,
 		"retention-drop-step-duration",
-		os.Getenv("TOPICCTL_APPLY_RETENTION_DROP_STEP_DURATION"),
+		"",
 		"Amount of time to use for retention drop steps",
 	)
 	applyCmd.Flags().BoolVar(
diff --git a/pkg/apply/apply.go b/pkg/apply/apply.go
index 76ddf3a5..88906a94 100644
--- a/pkg/apply/apply.go
+++ b/pkg/apply/apply.go
@@ -356,9 +356,20 @@ func (t *TopicApplier) updateSettings(
 		return err
 	}
 
+	var retentionDropStepDuration time.Duration
+	if t.config.RetentionDropStepDuration != 0 {
+		retentionDropStepDuration = t.config.RetentionDropStepDuration
+	} else {
+		var err error
+		retentionDropStepDuration, err = t.config.ClusterConfig.GetDefaultRetentionDropStepDuration()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	reduced, err := topicSettings.ReduceRetentionDrop(
 		topicInfo.Config,
-		t.config.RetentionDropStepDuration,
+		retentionDropStepDuration,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/pkg/config/cluster.go b/pkg/config/cluster.go
index 64348d81..a80be41d 100644
--- a/pkg/config/cluster.go
+++ b/pkg/config/cluster.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package config
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/session"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
@@ -68,6 +70,10 @@ type ClusterSpec struct {
 	// DefaultThrottleMB is the default broker throttle used for migrations in this
 	// cluster. If unset, then a reasonable default is used instead.
 	DefaultThrottleMB int64 `json:"defaultThrottleMB"`
+
+	// DefaultRetentionDropStepDuration is the default amount of time that retention drops will be
+	// limited by. If unset, no retention drop limiting will be applied.
+	DefaultRetentionDropStepDurationStr string `json:"defaultRetentionDropStepDuration"`
 }
 
 // Validate evaluates whether the cluster config is valid.
@@ -98,9 +104,25 @@ func (c ClusterConfig) Validate() error {
 		multierror.Append(err, errors.New("MajorVersion must be v0.10 or v2"))
 	}
 
+	_, parseErr := c.GetDefaultRetentionDropStepDuration()
+	if parseErr != nil {
+		err = multierror.Append(
+			err,
+			fmt.Errorf("Error parsing retention drop step retention: %+v", parseErr),
+		)
+	}
+
 	return err
 }
 
+func (c ClusterConfig) GetDefaultRetentionDropStepDuration() (time.Duration, error) {
+	if c.Spec.DefaultRetentionDropStepDurationStr == "" {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+
+	return time.ParseDuration(c.Spec.DefaultRetentionDropStepDurationStr)
+}
+
 // NewAdminClient returns a new admin client using the parameters in the current cluster config.
 func (c ClusterConfig) NewAdminClient(
 	ctx context.Context,
diff --git a/pkg/config/cluster_test.go b/pkg/config/cluster_test.go
index 34dbb374..9e0b3a40 100644
--- a/pkg/config/cluster_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/cluster_test.go
@@ -24,9 +24,10 @@ func TestClusterValidate(t *testing.T) {
 					Description: "test-description",
 				},
 				Spec: ClusterSpec{
-					BootstrapAddrs: []string{"broker-addr"},
-					ZKAddrs:        []string{"zk-addr"},
-					VersionMajor:   "v2",
+					BootstrapAddrs:                      []string{"broker-addr"},
+					ZKAddrs:                             []string{"zk-addr"},
+					VersionMajor:                        "v2",
+					DefaultRetentionDropStepDurationStr: "5m",
 				},
 			},
 			expError: false,
@@ -78,6 +79,24 @@ func TestClusterValidate(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			expError: true,
 		},
+		{
+			description: "bad retention drop format",
+			clusterConfig: ClusterConfig{
+				Meta: ClusterMeta{
+					Name:        "test-cluster",
+					Region:      "test-region",
+					Environment: "test-environment",
+					Description: "test-description",
+				},
+				Spec: ClusterSpec{
+					BootstrapAddrs:                      []string{"broker-addr"},
+					ZKAddrs:                             []string{"zk-addr"},
+					VersionMajor:                        "v2",
+					DefaultRetentionDropStepDurationStr: "10xxx",
+				},
+			},
+			expError: true,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, testCase := range testCases {