NRCS to Expand Targeted Conservation Effort for Wildlife on Agricultural Lands

I will have to read all this stuff - but I will say that working with my local NRCS office (CRP programs) has helped me turn roughly 15 acres of crop field into wildlife habitat AND I make more doing that than I was getting in rental prices. It also helped increase the rental rate on my remaining acres because the farmer was not having to farm the poorer producing areas as well. It has been a very positive experience for me and for the wildlife habitat on my place. I actually re-enrolled the same ground this year.

I liked the programs so much I looked into turning the entire farm into CRP, but that was not an option in my situation. If you have cropping or grazing history it never hurts to talk to your local NRCS office and see if there is something that may help you offset the cost of wildlife habitat.
 
I have a 60 acre CRP tree planting in MO that expires 2017. I'm worried because no new CRP contracts OR renewals were done in my County last year.
 
I'm glad to see revisions in CRP for more flexible grazing options....it's good both for the forages and soil health....and it gives wildlife managers more options for CRP management. There was some good long term reasearch results recently released which showed the benefits of grazing CRP to soil health.


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They helped me convert 8 acres of old pastor to trees last year and will be converting another 8 acres of cropland along a creek into a tree buffer with their assistance this spring. There is good programs out there if you're willing to do the work to get into them.

I would like t get into one of those Quail Habitat programs. My farm is in the target zone so I will definitely be reaching out to them !!
 
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I worked with NRCS in 2010 when my property was approved for a WHIP contract......have to say these guys were fantastic and extremely easy to work with.

I met all my contract requirements early and they really appreciated that they didn't have to push me to get things done before the end of the contract term.
 
swat1018 said:
I have a 60 acre CRP tree planting in MO that expires 2017. I'm worried because no new CRP contracts OR renewals were done in my County last year.
Click to expand...

From what I'm told tree plantings get precedence over many others. Was that contract offered in " continuous signup"?
 
CentralKyHunter said:
I would bet you are in good shape. I'm working on one now that I am signing up on a 15 year contract with continuous sign up after that


What all did you plant. Got any pictures of what it looks like now?
Click to expand...

It was planted about 8-9 years before I bought the property. There are a variety of species, some I wouldn't have planted. There are some poplar, and a few maple, I wouldn't have planted. There are lots of oak varieties, a few walnut, and even a few pecan. The planting wouldn't be considered a success by many. Lots of trees were killed or turned into bushes by constant deer browse. But there is a lot of grass/forb growth. There are quite a few volunteer cedar (I like). I am going to try and kill more grass in the planting this spring. If the trees would have took hold well as they were planted, I think the area would have canopied by now, and would just be another block of timber. The way it is, I have blocks where the trees did well, and lots where they didn't do as well, but with lots of scattered oaks. It's more "old field" looking habitat, since it was old crop ground previously. The "old field" type habitat is my favorite. It's deer bedding magnet in NE MO.

I don't have any pics, sorry.
 
swat1018 said:
I have a 60 acre CRP tree planting in MO that expires 2017. I'm worried because no new CRP contracts OR renewals were done in my County last year.
Click to expand...
Reach out to them in advance - don't let it expire and then act. They may be able to do something. I didn't have any issue renewing my current stuff, but if I wanted to change or add to it, that was a different story.
 
Indiana isn't MO. The demand out there is off the chart, compared to here. I have things in the works, just won't have an answer for awhile.
 
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