CRP

[OVER 150]

would someone please explainn to me what a land owner has to gain by putting his land in CRP and does it cost the land owner anything to enroll in the program .. I had a farm thats was put into this this year and I just cant figure out why unless he is getting some sort of kick back from doing it .. any info explaining this program would be appreciated

thanks in advance
Marc

 

[bowmaker]

The CRP program pays farmers a certain dollar amount per acre enrolled for taking that land out of crop production. Most of the ground is suposed to be highly erodable land that has marginal crop potential any way. Payments run from arround $50.00 to a little over $100.00 per acre per year. The land must be seeded to a varity of grasses and lugumes like clovers or alfalfas. Program enrollment is for 10 years and except for emergency situations the acres can't be mowed for hay or pastured or all payments are forfieted and must be repaid. Payments are somewhat based on past corn production to replace lost crop income for enrolled acres. I currently have 70 acres out of 140 enrolled and will reup if alowed to. I don't really want to farm it and have no equipment anyway. Benifits to the economy are fewer corn acres to cut back in surpluses to raise corn prices, fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides to contaminate ground water, less errosion to silt in and clog water ways, and much more and better wildlife habitate. Pheasant numbers really jumped with the first signup program but have leveled off now because a lot of the plantings have aged and choked out with unusable plants and grasses. For best habitate these acres need to be replanted or at least burned off to reduce the matting and to let the binifical plants reestablish themselves. Over all the CRP program is a very good thing even though some call it farmer wellfare. In my case the payments on the 70 acres just about pay the taxes on the 140 so it isn't a get rich deal but just gives the government dollars back to the government. Didn't mean to get so long but it seems that I can't do just short answers anymore.

 

[JNRBRONC]

The CRP is a bid-in process. The farmer submits a bid stating what type of cover he would like to plant and the dollar amount he is willing to accept. The NRCS will help the farmer in his proposal so that it has a good chance of getting accepted. If the farmer states he is willing to plant trees, not only does this give him preference "points" in the bid process, it will also allow for him to extend the contract an extra 5 years (total of 15). What types of ground cover (varitey of grasses/legumes) that will be planted also receives "points". There is government cost share available to get the cover crop and/or trees established.

Potential negatives: If the farmer decides 8 years into the contract that he wants to sell the ground, he has to find someone willing to assume the contract or face repayment of all previous CRP payments (shouldn't be hard to find to find that buyer with all the hunters out there

). Also, the CRP payments are set for the duration of the contract, so no "cost-of-living" increases. Finally, the last CRP contract I read (ten years ago) listed prohibited acts. The farmer could not charge campers a fee, the farmer could not install an air strip (on highly erodible land=steep hills, not the sort of airstrip I want to land a plane on!), and some other activities. So the farmer has limitations on what can be done on his own property (loss of control issue?).

 

[DOR]

"Most of the ground is suposed to be highly erodable land that has marginal crop potential any way"

"fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides to contaminate ground water, less errosion to silt in and clog water ways,"

Very good for fish a well! Especially trout! An outstanding program!!

"

 

[OVER 150]

Thank you all for your answers .. The guy in question did plant 8,000 trees in 2 fields and grasses in the rest . I like the idea but worry that the lack of crops will have the deer on the neighbors property . I do have food plots but now there tiny 3 of them less than a acre I just feel the hunting might not be what it used to be ?? maybe I am wrong time will tell. one last question does the State cove all the set up fee ?? do they pay for the trees grass seed someone to plant the trees ect ?? I know he had a tree planter come to plant them ..

thanks again
Marc

 

[oldgene]

The feds have a cost share program and here in Iowa Pheasants Forever will help pay some of the seed cost. I have 50 acres of CRP some of which is 15 years old. It has been a real boom for pheasants, deer and turkeys.

 

[dowellgt]

With permission from the NRCS you can do mid contract renovation on CRP acres.
I did a project for a friend where we converted existing bromegrass cover to tallgrass prairie,shrub planting and a combination of partridge pea,illinois bundleflower and clover. The existing brome had virtually no wildlife value since it was nearly a 100% brome monoculture that averaged 12" in height. The brome was mowed, allowed to regrow to about 5-8" and sprayed with Roundup. The areas where the shrubs and legumes were to be planted were disked lightly. The legumes were seeded using a cyclone spreader as a fall frost seeding. The prairie grass was seeded using a no till Truax drill at the same time as the legumes. The owner received a combination of cost share money from the local Pheasants Forever chapter, USFW and the REAP program. The results after one year of growth: (1)This year will tell more about the prairie grass (2) About 95% of shrubs are alive (3)The legume areas have a wide diversity of species both planted and volunteer and probably averaged 3' in height.

When mowing, spraying,disking and planting the area I saw one lone quail and found one small 3 point shed. While checking the area this winter after one year of growth I jumped a covey of 25-30 quail and later found 4 new sheds in the planted areas. I know this is anecdotal evidence but it is very encouraging. The biggest thing I learned in this project was that we could have achieved a large portion of the benefits from simply spraying and disking the legume areas and allowing the seed bank in the soil to repopulate the areas. Clovers were very prolific even in areas where they were not seeded even though they were vitually non-existant in the brome grass. The only real failure seemed to be the lack of Illinois bundleflower in the new seeding.