A Plug for the CRP

I ALWAYS like to get a plug in for the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program when there is a sign up period happening for it. In fact, we are in the midst of one right now and it continues through June 14th! Let me tell you, in today’s world, there is no other conservation program that has done so much for habitat on such a broad scale for so many different wildlife species than the CRP. I know first hand as a landowner, a producer, a farmer. I have all of the eligible land in our 167 year-old Wagner Family Farm in southeastern Nebraska enrolled in it! Our warm-season grasses are slowly coming back after a year of drought and a cold, wet spring.

Everyone in our family enjoys the pollinator habitat we have.

While shooting photos I found a red admiral butterfly on the grassland floor near the wildflowers.

We are currently in the fourth year of our 10-year CRP contract with quail nesting cover (and yes, we have northern bobwhites!). As you may note, we are approaching the time when mid-contract management work with our grassland acres will need to be done to enhance them (prescribed burning, light disking and inter-seeding with legumes, etc.).

Fellow landowners, I would encourage you to at least look into signing up some of your eligible land in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program by June 14th. You can get all the information up front about this CRP sign up by clicking here: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=copr&topic=crp-sp Here’s another photo of the CRP acres on our farm.

Also, Scott Luedtke in our Game and Parks Wildlife Division, says that this CRP sign up period is appropriately timed to let FOLKS WHO OWN LAND IN THE MISSOURI RIVER FLOODPLAIN know about our $100 per acre additional signing incentive. He says this is a one-time incentive payment, payable upon completion of a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission incentive agreement and his reception of an FSA-signed, CRP contract. For further details, contact Scott by e-mail at Scott.luedtke@nebraska.gov or by phone in Lincoln at 402-471-5561.

Special thanks to Eric Zach who’s the Ag Program Manager in our Game and Parks Wildlife Division for assisting greatly with this blog post. Thanks a bunch, Eric!

Remember, if you build it, if you have it, they will come!