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CRP Programs- Worth it? Which ones?

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gjs4

New Member
While I have had some experience with EQUIP I have not with CRP.

Equip experience was in two different states; One went super smooth and easy with a "surprised everyone with hunting dirt doesnt do this"....the other was not the same. The biologist and program admin were super busy or lazy and everything took forever. It involved invasive removal and they payment was garbage- maybe 30% of the actual cost and slow to get those funds. I am done with them as the money they provided wasnt worth the time and headache.

SO hypothetically speaking a guy gets a new property but in a unique area; the central KS prairie. 100ac, 50 ag and 50 (native and brome) grasses and shrubs, seasonal creek bottom drainage. Its just been farmed ag and hayed grasses for years but is a stand alone in cattle country other than a large sanctuary property that touches it. Not sure if this is a keeper kind of farm or not, but the goal is to make it a great deer property for a keep or a flip(if it isnt special). Blue collar guy, not made of money but wants to avoid being hamstrung. Current ag is sorghum for $50ac rent.

Upon purchase CRP is presented for sign up the following year. Get this great list of practices including CP5a windbreaks (?road screening), CP9 waterways for wildlife, CP42, food plots, etc.

For those with experience; Is CRP worth enrolling in? Have noticed many properties selling with years remaining on a contract and it appears to be a detractor (and not pay much). Are there certain programs that are great, or ones to avoid?

Your help and thoughts are appreciated.
 
Nearly all the CRP programs are the same in terms of general structure. They all follow the same basic contract model. "Worth it"..... That's really a hard question to answer without knowing specifics on payments for a specific area.
 
With the low cash rent I would assume the CRP rates are similar. Good cover with income should add value to a hunting property. We are in a lower CRP payment phase than the previous 10 years with many reenrollments offering lower rents.CRP would cap the income for the term of the contract. Make sure the practice allows food plots if you want those many practices do not allow them.
 
Write down your goals.
If your goals align with crp, then it a step in right direction.
If goals and crp dont align.. stop.
It is like wearing combat boots to run a marathon, it can work. But in the end you likely won't be happy.

Eqip is not a cost share program. It is an incentive program. They pay incentive for you to implement conservation practices as they instruct. Think of it an a coupon. Follow their rules and you get the gold.
 
It depends on the program.. I have some filter strips, & smaller 5 to 6 acres blocks of native grasses.

I’ve done a lot of field windbreaks, & riparian buffer (trees) over the years. It’s a 15 yr plans and all the trees are basically paid for. If you plant them yourself, you make $$ on the cost share.IMG_8993.jpeg
 
gjs4 said:
I would say where one would say the effort to be in the program provided results greater than if one was not. Tools that lead to financial offset toward wildlife habitat improvements to which the owner was grateful they proceeded with the govnt help versus tackled it alone.
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I would say this. Crp requires work or money to hire people. Anyone going into it thinking its sign and up, plant, and then forget about it will be very unhappy imo. Getting the seed bed in great shape, executing a great planting with a great seed mix is critical. Mowing year 1 multiple times potentially. Spot spraying invasives so they dont spread.... ongoing. Mandated mid contract maintenance with no cost share. Easy button is cash rent. Crp is not easy button.

Now... if a person takes great joy is seeing HABITAT, maybe pheasant or quail that weren't there, deer cover, hundreds of pollinators, building soil, erosion stopped, etc etc... yeah worth it big time.

If I was looking at creating a prairie out of pocket vs crp thats an absolute no brainer.... CRP 10 times out of 10.

To do CRP right requires work. At least on the front end for sure. Def worth it imo
 
some things folks might not think of when they lean towards NOT doing CRP….. like Windlookers view of Government…. I don’t disagree with that sentiment & Gov does suck at a lot of things & CRP can have headaches. But…. Don’t think farming doesn’t have major headaches & even major costs associated with it. Dealing with renters has its headaches & Troubles. Especially in deer country situations…
-not putting down p&k & lime …. Mining the soil. A lot of times $100 an acre per year leaves the farm in fertility & guys don’t realize it.
-erosion!!! Dudes work your soil. Or simply having crops on erodible stuff. There’s a huge value to that & how much you lose. Real examples I see…. If you lose “1% of your topsoil per year” in cases of highly erodible land…. There is an end to that. & it does come to an end in a lot of cases.
-spray damage, blown out terraces & waterways that get out of hand. Rare & can happen without farming but worth thinking about
-even stuff like having to collect rent or deal with a flaky farmer- not without its issues.

CRP stops the fertility loss & reduces erosion big league. Builds soil, helps Ecosystem. Usually makes hunting better. Great for access or even screening where a field might be by a road where poaching happens. So many benefits to CRP.
Zero doubt both scenarios have their ups and downs. Weighing all of them out…. CRP will always have a place on my farms. But that’s me and only you can weigh it out to where it’s a good fit or not on your farm.
 
Echo what Skip said above. Not that I am made of money but if the pros and cons end up relatively even biodiversity and doing my part to help pollinators, birds and ecosystem in general tips the scales to CRP even if the money is a little less than CR. These heavy rains in my area it makes me sick looking at the silt deposits from erosion. Rented farm and tenant vertical tilled field this year and too much erosion. Across the road in established CRP no erosion and plethora of bees, birds and butterflies on an awesome mix of native forbs. On a side note anyone considering forbs for CRP I would recommend keeping Maximilian sunflower and bee balm OUT of the mixes if you can as they take over a lot of plantings.
 
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It’s like any other government agency, smooth correspondence and operations is dependent on the competence of your contact. My experience in 25 years with the Justice Dept is you have a 10% chance of working with someone worthy. That’s every agency.

My fsa office liked, not liking, my maintenance protocol whether I cut, burned, reseeded etc they had a problem. Keep in mind i had little in crp compared to my neighbor(s) who make hundreds of thousands in the program. Drive by their fields and it was evident zero maintenance was done with cedars and growth 3,4,5 years in. Why the disparity. Maybe because large legacy landowners carry more clout and F off power. . I got tired of it. To each their own.
 
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My experience with CRP farms and I’m sure several guys on here can relate… Big bucks like to rut in CRP! Maybe trying to pin a doe out away from other bucks, searching….all the above .

Early November is a magnet for bucks . Cold days are just fun! Not always the easiest to hunt though. Sometimes it’s just fun to see them rutting with the Binos !!
 
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