New Farm Bill is signed

[GOARMY]

Well the new Farm Bill is inked now. CRP acres will be brought down from like 32m acres to 25m acres over time. Take from one guy give to another. Not what I wanted to hear as I planned on enrolling some acres.

Increases Assistance for Food Banks
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Local food banks are struggling to provide enough food to needy families in their area. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) helps supplement the diets of low-income individuals by providing emergency food and nutrition assistance, largely through food banks. [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Conservation Reserve Program [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Refocuses the Conservation Reserve Program [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) removes highly erodible land from production to benefit soil and water quality as well as wildlife habitats. The program currently has an acreage cap of 32 million acres. Over the next two years, the contracts on over 10 million acres will expire. The bill lowers the acreage cap through a multi-year step-down to 25 million acres, allowing for the re-enrollment and prioritization of the most highly erodible, sensitive acres. There is an added focus on grassland conservation. This program also continues the Transition Incentives Program, which allows retiring farmers and ranchers to transfer their land to a beginning farmer or rancher to begin production while still receiving CRP payments in the final two years of their contracts. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...-house-with-8-billion-in-food-stamp-cuts.html[/FONT]
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[DannyBoy]

Farm the best and save the rest, GOARMY. I know it will never happen but if every producer adopted that philosophy, the 25mil. acre cap would suit us just fine. We'd have wildlife galore.

Look towards continuous crp practices and enrolling your most sensitive areas and something will likely get you in.

 

[mplane72]

I did not get all the details but I heard a piece about this on the news this morning. I caught something about a penalty for opening up new land that has never been planted before. Anyone see anything else about this?

 

[singlecoyote]

I did not get all the details but I heard a piece about this on the news this morning. I caught something about a penalty for opening up new land that has never been planted before. Anyone see anything else about this?

I don't know how long, but the sod buster rule has been in place since at least the 2008 farm bill.

 

[Hardwood11]

I did not get all the details but I heard a piece about this on the news this morning. I caught something about a penalty for opening up new land that has never been planted before. Anyone see anything else about this?

I think that is in the bill, PF and DU pushed hard for that!

 

[Hardwood11]

The continuous CRP program is a good program. As Danny states..."Farm the best, save the rest"

90% cost share, in some cases a bonus payment, pretty high rates right now. It can be native grasses or trees depending on the program.

 

[GOARMY]

Hardwood,

I want to put all slopes and not good food plot spots in CRP--cave in the rock grass.
Throw in say 10 thousand pine seedlings and wammo in 5 years deer city it will be.

The pines will help funnel deer and give me a place down the road to hide ladder stands in.

 

[Sligh1]

Hardwood,

I want to put all slopes and not good food plot spots in CRP--cave in the rock grass.
Throw in say 10 thousand pine seedlings and wammo in 5 years deer city it will be.

The pines will help funnel deer and give me a place down the road to hide ladder stands in.

I'm doing similar on one place. All the side hills will get big blue and indian grass. The bottoms will get Switchgrass. Then, about 30% of the place I'm doing tree plantings which include some direct seeding from all the seed collection. I've done it many times now and about 3-4 years in, wow, incredible hunting. I sure hope enough marginal ground gets enrolled in CRP to really make a huge impact on the wildlife that's taken a beating the last 5 years or longer (pheasants, etc).

 

[Hardwood11]

Hardwood,

I want to put all slopes and not good food plot spots in CRP--cave in the rock grass.
Throw in say 10 thousand pine seedlings and wammo in 5 years deer city it will be.

The pines will help funnel deer and give me a place down the road to hide ladder stands in.

It would be awesome!!

From what I have seen, CRP cover in Iowa is used way more than what we have in MN. I believe it is the soil and the longer growing season. Natives 6-7 feet tall, and trees grow twice as fast. You can literally change the landscape in 4-7 years in Iowa, it takes around 7-10 in MN.

 

[Hardwood11]

Crp

I'm doing similar on one place. All the side hills will get big blue and indian grass. The bottoms will get Switchgrass. Then, about 30% of the place I'm doing tree plantings which include some direct seeding from all the seed collection. I've done it many times now and about 3-4 years in, wow, incredible hunting. I sure hope enough marginal ground gets enrolled in CRP to really make a huge impact on the wildlife that's taken a beating the last 5 years or longer (pheasants, etc).

One thing to seriously consider on pheasants, a 6-12 row windbreak. CRP may be available to pay for this....

Two to three rows of plum/chokecherry
4-8 rows of cedar/spruce
Then one row of dogwood or chokeberry on the back side

Perfect for pheasants in the winter. Plant switch/natives near it, and then have at least two acres of sorghum/corn that borders. My pheasant farm has 2-3 times as many birds as anyone near me. Although the numbers are still down due to tough winters.