USDA offers General and Continuous CRP sign-up

Over the past 27 years, the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) has created millions of acres of upland and wetland habitat for quail, pheasants, ducks, deer, turkeys and a wide array of nongame wildlife by offering payments to farmers for taking highly erodible farmland out of production. Efforts continue with the USDA’s recent announcement of a General CRP (GCRP) signup May 20 – June 14.
USDA also announced the restart of sign-up for the Continuous CRP (CCRP) on May 13. Landowners once again have the opportunity to enroll crop field borders or whole fields in wildlife friendly vegetation. CCRP is offered on a continuous, non-competitive sign-up basis.
Landowners enrolled in GCRP and CCRP receive annual payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland. According to the FSA website, “CRP is a voluntary program that helps agricultural producers use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to control soil erosion, improve water and air quality and develop wildlife habitat. In return, FSA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 to 15 years.”
Additionally, in response to the continued loss of CRP acres and the important wildlife habitat it provides in Missouri, the Missouri Department of Conservation is continuing the MDC CRP Incentive Program in select CRP priority areas. MDC is offering landowners a one-time incentive payment of $100-$150 per acre for enrolling in the wildlife friendly CP33-Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds, CP38 – SAFE, or CP42-Pollinator Habitat practices.
The MDC CRP Incentive is available in the following counties: Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Bates, Bollinger, Buchanan, Butler, Caldwell, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Carroll, Chariton, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Dade, Daviess, DeKalb, Dunklin, Franklin, Gasconade, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Knox, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Maries, Mercer, Mississippi, Monroe, Moniteau, Morgan, New Madrid, Osage, Nodaway, Pemiscot, Perry, Pike, Platte, Putnam, Randolph, Ray, Ripley, St. Charles, St. Genevieve, Schuyler, Scotland, Scott, Shelby, Stoddard, Sullivan, Vernon, Warren, and Worth.
Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff can help farmers and other eligible landowners determine program eligibility, options, and seeding mixes to help sustain healthy forests, fish and wildlife. Visit www.mdc.mo.gov to find local MDC Private Land Conservationists under “Who’s My Local Contact.”
For more information on the CRP general signup and other conservation programs, contact the local USDA Service Center and speak with an FSA representative or MDC Private Land Conservationist. Visit the FSA website at www.fsa.usda.gov/crp for program details.

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MDC offers incentive payments for CRP enrollment, enhancements

Incentive payments will help enhance private land for quail and other early successional wildlife, waterfowl, and grassland birds

JEFFERSON CITY – Landowners in 54 Missouri counties can receive $300 per acre in incentive bonuses for enrolling new land in the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and those with existing CRP contracts could receive payments exceeding $200 for management practices that enhance the value of CRP acres for wildlife.

Private Land Programs Supervisor Lisa Potter with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) says the approximate 1.1 million acres of CRP on the Missouri landscape serves an essential role in the protection and enhancement of Missouri’s water quality, soil quality and wildlife habitat. In the past two years alone, Missouri has lost over 200,000 acres of CRP to contract expirations and land use conversions.   

Starting Dec. 1, in an effort to increase and enhance the amount of quality wildlife habitat in Missouri, MDC is offering $100 to $150 per acre for new land enrolled in certain CRP practices. The MDC incentives are in addition to $100 to $150 incentive payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Services Agency (FSA) for new enrollments.

Qualifying CRP practices include CP33 (Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds), CP38 (State Acres for Wildlife Enhancements), CP42 (Pollinator Habitat) and CP23 (Wetland Restoration).

MDC also is offering an additional $18 to $60 per acre for mid-contract management activities, such as prescribed burning, disking, herbicide application and legume or native forb interseeding on existing cool-season grass (CP1) and warm-season grass acres. These payments are in addition to FSA payments for required mid-contract management activities.

Besides all of the foregoing incentives, MDC is offering landowners incentive payments of $100 to $200 for planting or enhancing shrubby cover within or adjacent to CRP land.

“Today, most of Missouri’s rural landscape provides little habitat for early successional wildlife such as quail, grassland birds and cottontail rabbits,” says Potter.  “These special incentives, in combination with CRP, can provide an ideal mix of early successional habitat.”

Mid-contract management incentives are available Dec. 1. However, incentives for new CRP acres will not be available until Congress passes or extends the federal farm bill.

Counties included in the offer are: Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Bates, Bollinger, Buchanan, Butler, Caldwell, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Carroll, Chariton, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Dade, Daviess, DeKalb, Dunklin, Franklin, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Knox, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Mercer, Mississippi, Monroe, New Madrid, Nodaway, Pemiscot, Pike, Platte, Putnam, Randolph, Ray, Ripley, St. Charles, Schuyler, Scotland, Scott, Shelby, Stoddard, Sullivan, Vernon and Worth.

More information is available from local MDC private land conservationists (PLCs). To find your PLC, visit the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov and click on the “Local Contact” box.

-Jim Low-

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CRP Landowner Enrollment Workshops Taking Place in Missouri

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In response to the recent announcement of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General Sign-up 43, multiple CRP Landowner Workshops will be held throughout the month of March to inform producers and conservationists about Conservation Reserve Program General Sign-up 43. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from biologists how to improve the chances of their lands being accepted into the CRP Program. Information will also be presented informing producers on how conserving marginal lands through CRP can prove mutually beneficial for wildlife and agriculture production.

Follow this LINK for more information and updates to the CRP workshop schedule.

March 14th Missouri Dept. of Conservation NE Regional Office Kirksville, MO. Workshop begins at 6 P.M. For questions please contact Elsa Gallagher, Regional Wildlife Biologist Quail Forever/Pheasants Forever, at (573) 680-7115.

March 15th MU Bradford Research Farm Columbia, MO. Workshop begins at 6 P.M. For questions please contact Jason Sykes, Area Biologist, at (573) 769-3512 Ext.6.

March 16th USDA Service Center, 18450 Ridgeview Ln. Dexter, MO. Workshop begins at 1 p.m. For questions please contact Brandon Wirsig, Private Land Conservationist, at (573) 624-5939 Ext.136.

March 16th Memphis Fire Station, 104 N. Washington Memphis, MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Craig Williamson, Private Land Conservationist, at (660) 216-1588 Ext.111.

March 20th Carrollton Public Library, 1 N. Folger St. Carrollton, MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Andrew White, Farm Bill Biologist/Quail Forever, at (660) 619-1719.

March 20th Ketcham Community Center – Sugg Room, 1301 Main Street, Trenton MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Scott Roy at the Grundy Co. USDA office in Trenton, (660) 359-5685 Ext.114.

March 21st Hal England Center, 801 Hickland, Princeton MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Scott Roy at the Grundy Co. USDA office in Trenton, (660) 359-5685 Ext.114.

March 22nd Litton Center, Hwy 190 Chillicothe, MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Andrew White, Farm Bill Biologist/Quail Forever, at (660) 619-1719.

March 27th Litton Center, Hwy 190 Chillicothe, MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Andrew White, Farm Bill Biologist/Quail Forever, at (660) 619-1719.

March 29th Linn County Career and Technical Center, Brookfield, MO. Workshop begins at 6 p.m. For questions please contact Andrew White, Farm Bill Biologist/Quail Forever, at (660) 619-1719.

For more information regarding Quail Forever in Missouri, please contact Elsa Gallagher at (573) 680-7115 / Email Elsa. For all other inquiries, please contact Rehan Nana, Quail Forever Public Relations Specialist, at (651) 209-4973 / Email Rehan.

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 United States and Canada. 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.

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USDA offers CRP sign-up with April 6 deadline

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Program can help farmers add habitat to cropland while protecting soil and water quality.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo -- Over the past 26 years, the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) has created millions of acres of upland and wetland habitat for quail, pheasants, ducks, deer, turkeys and a wide array of nongame wildlife by offering payments to farmers for taking highly erodible farmland out of production. Efforts continue with the USDA’s and Missouri Farm Service’s (MFS) recent announcement of a CRP general signup March 12 - April 6.

Landowners enrolled in CRP receive annual payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland. According to the FSA website, “CRP is a voluntary program that helps agricultural producers use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to control soil erosion, improve water and air quality and develop wildlife habitat. In return, FSA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 to 15 years.”

According to the USDA, an estimated 6.5 million CRP acres are scheduled to expire nationwide in September with more than 377,000 of those acres being in Missouri.

Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff can help farmers and other eligible landowners determine program eligibility, options, seeding mixes and maintenance requirements to help sustain healthy forests, fish and wildlife. Visit www.mdc.mo.govto find local MDC Private Land Conservationists under “Who’s My Local Contact.” 

For more information on the CRP general signup and other conservation programs, contact the local USDA Service Center and speak with an FSA representative or MDC Private Land Conservationist. Visit the FSA website at www.fsa.usda.gov/crpfor program details.

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