Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land is of great interest to conservationists, hunters and landowners; and the latest news sounds promising. “We have been watching the farm bill closely at Quail Unlimited Wildlife Forever (QUWF) and have the latest news,” stated Nick Prough, chief biologist for the group.

Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS) Michael Scuse announced the USDA will conduct a four-week CRP general signup, beginning March 12 and ending on April 6. CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation’s natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the United States.

“It is USDA’s goal to ensure that we use CRP to address our most critical resource issues,” said Scuse. “CRP is an important program for protecting our most environmentally sensitive lands from erosion and sedimentation, and for ensuring the sustainability of our groundwater, lakes, rivers, ponds and streams.

“As always, we expect strong competition to enroll acres into CRP, and we urge interested producers to maximize their environmental benefits and to make cost-effective offers.”

CRP is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers to help use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and help develop wildlife habitat. In return, the USDA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract durations run from 10-15 years.

“Programs for wildlife are critical for the resource, and the farm bill provides private landowners many programs to enhance areas of their lands for wildlife. Signup by landowners, we hope, will be a top priority and they act very quickly to enroll and maintain the acres needed to preserve many species of upland game across the country,” said Craig Alderman, QUWF director.

Recently, many landowners are considering taking marginal lands out of the CRP program to maximize crop production as prices increase and the land use becomes more valuable – a critical danger for wildlife. For more information or to join QUWF, please visit its website at www.quwf.net

For more information on CRP and other Farm Service Agency programs, visit a local USDA service center or go online at www.fsa.usda.gov

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Jack Spaulding may contact him by e-mail at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.