CRP Interest Solid, But We Need More Donuts

We're three days into the first Conservation Reserve Program general signup since 2006.

We’re three days into the first Conservation Reserve Program general signup since 2006.  Although we don’t have any hard numbers on the amount of acres offered yet, we do have some encouraging reports from our Pheasants Forever field staff who have been hosting landowner CRP forums across the country this week. 

Actually, things went a little crazy in Jamestown, North Dakota earlier this week when more than three times the amount of people expected showed up at a Pheasants Forever informational meeting about CRP for landowners.  Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist Steve Stensgard reported that the four dozen donuts didn’t last long with the over-flow crowd of 120 people.  In fact, some of the landowners elected to schedule individual appointments rather than jam into the packed room. 

Over in Haxtum and Holyoke, Colorado, dozens more farmers and landowners attended CRP forums.  We’ve heard similar reports from most states across the pheasant range. 

All in all, the news of the first three days has been encouraging, but we’ll wait till we see actual numbers to really get an idea of interest.  Strong early interest shouldn’t be that surprising.  New rental rates, more than 4 million available CRP acres, and uncertainty over the timeframe for next signup all add to the solid CRP success story – simply the best opportunity for farmers and landowners to manage their hard-to-farm acres, while providing tremendous benefits to soil, water quality, and wildlife.

Tags: Conservation Reserve Program, crp

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 and is filed under Conservation, Habitat, Pheasants Forever. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.