blake
Life Member
New CRP General Signup Announced for March
Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse announces the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning on March 12th and ending on April 6th. Currently, about 30 million acres are enrolled in CRP; and contracts on an estimated 6.5 million acres will expire on Sept. 30, 2012.
"Today's announcement of a March general CRP signup is welcome news. More than 20 percent of all CRP acres enrolled across the country are set to expire in eight months," explained Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever's Vice President of Government Affairs. "Consider what those acres mean to pheasants, quail, ducks, water quality, rural economies and hunters. It's staggering to consider."
CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation's natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
United States</ST1
</st1:country-region>.
"There are certainly challenges in front of this CRP signup when you look at the demands on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1America</st1:country-region>s agricultural lands today," added Nomsen. "However, I know CRP can succeed in harmony with agriculture at safeguarding the toughest-to-farm acres by providing a stable source of income, while providing wildlife, water and soil benefits."
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 90 Farm Bill Biologists working at USDA service centers to provide one-on-one assistance to farmers and ranchers during the 2012 general signup. The CRP general signup is a competitive process in which each contract offer competes with all other offers. All acres offered for CRP enrollment are weighted accordingly via the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI), as the FSA collects data for each EBI factor based on the relative environmental benefits for the land offered. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists work with landowners to obtain the highest EBI score, thereby improving the chances of a contract offer being accepted.
One way landowners can significantly improve their CRP contract offers is by including a pollinator habitat component. The 2008 federal Farm Bill mandated that USDA conservation programs be used to help restore and/or manage for pollinator habitat, and higher EBI scores are awarded for these cover types. Pheasants and quail share a common need for habitat featuring a diverse forb (flowering plant) component with pollinating insects like honey bees, butterflies, and beetles. Following a pheasant or quail nest's hatch, young chicks survive almost exclusively on a diet of insects. These insects are dependent upon a diverse mix of forbs in and around quality nesting cover. Likewise, a diverse mix of flowering plants creates the best brood cover to allow pheasant and quail chicks to move through habitat at ground level, while having protection from avian predators above.
Additionally, current CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall may make new contract offers. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever encourage landowners planning on letting their current CRP contracts expire to consider offering at least partial reenrollment of their acreage. This helps increase yields to their cropland, while maintaining water quality and wildlife benefits.
Additionally, landowners planning to attend Pheasants Forever's National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic in <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1Kansas City o</st1:City>n February 17, 18 and 19 can receive CRP signup advice by visiting the Landowner Habitat Help Room during any of the three days of the event.
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 130,000 members and 700 local chapters across the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1Canada</st1:country-region>. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent, the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.<O</O
Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse announces the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning on March 12th and ending on April 6th. Currently, about 30 million acres are enrolled in CRP; and contracts on an estimated 6.5 million acres will expire on Sept. 30, 2012.
"Today's announcement of a March general CRP signup is welcome news. More than 20 percent of all CRP acres enrolled across the country are set to expire in eight months," explained Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever's Vice President of Government Affairs. "Consider what those acres mean to pheasants, quail, ducks, water quality, rural economies and hunters. It's staggering to consider."
CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation's natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
</st1:country-region>."There are certainly challenges in front of this CRP signup when you look at the demands on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1
America</st1:country-region>s agricultural lands today," added Nomsen. "However, I know CRP can succeed in harmony with agriculture at safeguarding the toughest-to-farm acres by providing a stable source of income, while providing wildlife, water and soil benefits."Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 90 Farm Bill Biologists working at USDA service centers to provide one-on-one assistance to farmers and ranchers during the 2012 general signup. The CRP general signup is a competitive process in which each contract offer competes with all other offers. All acres offered for CRP enrollment are weighted accordingly via the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI), as the FSA collects data for each EBI factor based on the relative environmental benefits for the land offered. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists work with landowners to obtain the highest EBI score, thereby improving the chances of a contract offer being accepted.
One way landowners can significantly improve their CRP contract offers is by including a pollinator habitat component. The 2008 federal Farm Bill mandated that USDA conservation programs be used to help restore and/or manage for pollinator habitat, and higher EBI scores are awarded for these cover types. Pheasants and quail share a common need for habitat featuring a diverse forb (flowering plant) component with pollinating insects like honey bees, butterflies, and beetles. Following a pheasant or quail nest's hatch, young chicks survive almost exclusively on a diet of insects. These insects are dependent upon a diverse mix of forbs in and around quality nesting cover. Likewise, a diverse mix of flowering plants creates the best brood cover to allow pheasant and quail chicks to move through habitat at ground level, while having protection from avian predators above.
Additionally, current CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall may make new contract offers. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever encourage landowners planning on letting their current CRP contracts expire to consider offering at least partial reenrollment of their acreage. This helps increase yields to their cropland, while maintaining water quality and wildlife benefits.
Additionally, landowners planning to attend Pheasants Forever's National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic in <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1
Kansas City o</st1:City>n February 17, 18 and 19 can receive CRP signup advice by visiting the Landowner Habitat Help Room during any of the three days of the event.Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 130,000 members and 700 local chapters across the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1
Canada</st1:country-region>. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent, the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.<O</O
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