The Latest on CRP and Food Plots
By Brad Herndon

Farmers and deer managers can both benefit from new rules in the Conservation Reserve Program. Photo by Brad Herndon

Last spring as I sat at my desk writing an article, the phone rang. I picked up the receiver, cradled it to my ear and said, “Hello.”

“Hi, Brad,” The man on the other end of the phone said. “This is Darin Sweeney. Can you tell me what you have planted in your food plots?”

“Sure,” I replied. “We have Imperial Whitetail Clover planted in them.”

“Thanks, Brad,” Sweeney replied. “You just allowed me to get my land signed up in the CRP program again.”

The above conversation won’t mean anything to you until I put a few more details with it, which I’ll do to clarify what the conversation involved. You should find it extremely interesting because it will explain an entirely new twist in a conservation program Uncle Sam has had in place for years. This new change in the conservation program will not only help all types of wildlife, it will also enhance our water and soil resources throughout the nation.

And to top it all off, it may help you obtain a prime piece of land to lease, one that has never been leased before. Or it could enable you to hold on to a lease you presently have. Additionally, if you own property and already have it in the CRP program, what I’m going to discuss could help you get your land back into the CRP program when your current contract expires. Read on to see how it all works.

A Short Review

Many hunters throughout our land have heard of the Conservation Reserve Program. Most deer hunters refer to it in its shorter version, the CRP program. Until five years ago, few people outside of the farming community knew all of the details concerning the CRP program. That’s why Whitetail News ran one of my articles entitled “Plant Food Plots On CRP Ground? You Bet!”

In that article I explained the CRP program and shared a little known fact: The federal government actually encouraged the planting of wildlife food plots on ground enlisted in the CRP program. This was new information to many people participating in quality deer management. Moreover, many hunters who were leasing property containing CRP land jumped on the bandwagon and planted food plots. This was something I had been doing for a couple of years.

Because the Whitetail Institute of North America has experienced incredible growth over the past five years, many of you reading this may be new deer managers who haven’t read much about the CRP program. If so, this information is going to be valuable to you. And for those of you who read my article five years ago, some new parts of the latest CRP program will prove to be extremely beneficial to you as well.

What is the Conservation Reserve Program?

The CRP program was established in 1985. The latest changes in this act were re-authorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act in 2002.

Basically, the Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary program. It is available to agricultural producers to help them safeguard environmentally sensitive land. Primary goals are preventing water and wind soil erosion, which in turn reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes and improves water quality. Wetland preservation, improvement of air quality and many other conservation measures are tied to the CRP program. Typically, land, which has been planted in farm crops for four of the previous six years, is eligible for the CRP program, if it is located in erosion-sensitive areas.

By taking a soil erosion factor and figuring in the prevailing local cash-equivalent rental rates and maintenance costs, the government arrives at a figure that they make sure is high enough to encourage owners of eligible ground to participate in the program. Unfortunately, many of us do not consider soil erosion as a serious problem. It is a critical issue. For example, in northeastern Iowa the thickness of fertile soil is thin. Contour farming is common in this region since it prevents soil erosion. Once the topsoil in any region is lost, the ability of a farmer to make a living from his land is gone forever.

More importantly, however, is the fact that land with lost topsoil will never again grow food to feed the world’s people. By keeping the land in a CRP program, the soil is preserved, and without question, new farming methods and seed types will come along in the future and enable sensitive-soil regions to again be farmed. By keeping our flat, fertile farmland in crop production and sensitive land in the CRP program, we are planning well for our grandchildren’s future.

To provide an idea of the scope of the CRP program, 34.8 million acres are presently enrolled in the program. The acreage cap is 39.2 million acres. Approved payment per acre may vary from county to county and from state to state. Average CRP payment per acre in Iowa is $103.19. Meanwhile, payment per acre in Georgia is $39.73. Missouri is $66.11. This is a good comparison of how CRP rates vary, depending on the productivity of a region’s soil.

Why Do Farmers Want To Be In The CRP Program?

Farming is a labor-intensive vocation. It also has significant financial risks. If a farmer doesn’t have his crop insured, drought, high wind, hail and other hazards of nature could wipe out an entire crop for the year. Typically, a CRP contract runs for 10 or 15 years. Once land is enrolled in this program, the farmer has a steady income year after year. In addition, Uncle Sam is always good for the money. The investment of the farmer’s time is minimal, too. An approved cover crop is typically planted to stop soil erosion, and this is usually mowed once per year. That’s it.

It’s easy to see why so many farmers in areas where the soil is susceptible to erosion sign up for the program. However, as with any government program, money is involved. There’s only so much money to go around, and in many regions, not all bids on CRP ground is accepted, only the lowest.

The New CRP Program

As mentioned earlier, when land is put into the CRP program, a cover crop is planted on the farmland to prevent soil erosion. This is, after all, the primary purpose of the program. Wildlife is also a consideration from the beginning, and the CRP program encourages the planting of wildlife enhancing plots.

The land we lease was planted in a grass cover crop nine years ago under the CRP program. It certainly prevents soil erosion, fulfilling the main purpose of the program, but the wildlife benefits are terrible. Rabbits and quail can’t escape predators because the grass is too tight. It isn’t good bugging for turkeys, either, and we’ve watched deer cross the CRP fields hundreds of times and never drop their head to browse. The grass is virtually useless for most types of wildlife.

It should be noted that some early CRP ground was planted in some useful cover crops, but overall, there was much improvement to be made in this respect. Give the government credit. They saw dramatic improvements could be made regarding CRP cover crops, and they came up with an interesting bonus point system when it came to the farmer placing a bid for CRP ground.

The Bidding Process

What I’m going to describe isn’t exactly like the bidding process for CRP ground. I’ve simplified it considerably. Despite that fact, this illustration will show how deer food plots can make a difference to a farmer who is submitting a CRP land bid.

Let’s take a county in southern Illinois and use it for an example (Illinois has 999,385 acres in the CRP program). Southern Illinois is very hilly in areas, so it has significant acreage that is susceptible to erosion. We’ll say the approved per acre payment rate for this CRP land is $80. Furthermore, we’ll say that the budget amount available for a particular county is $1,000,000. Therefore, contracts for 12,500 acres will be awarded. That’s all fine and dandy, except that there are 18,000 acres that qualify for the CRP program in the county. Since all of the landowners want to put their land in the program, each of them is going to place a bid. Obviously some of them are going to be left out.

This example is typical of what is happening in many parts of the nation at this time. Some farmers will bid the $80 amount, hoping they will be one of the winners. Other farmers may bid $78 – $2 under the government approved CRP rate. These farmers have been exceptionally happy with the program, so it’s worth losing $2 per acre in order to obtain a 10-year CRP contract. This all seems reasonably simple, just like going to an estate auction, only in this case, the low bid wins instead of the high bid. But there’s more.

Wildlife Enhancement Bonus Points

I really like this part of the new CRP program. Using our bidding example again, let’s assume two farmers have adjoining land. The approved amount on each property is $80 per acre. Both farmers bid $80. It’s a tie. But is it? One piece of property is leased to a deer hunter and he has a two-acre Imperial Clover food plot planted in the edge of one of the farmer’s fields. Under the new CRP bidding process, a food plot gets five bonus points, meaning the deer food plot enabled one farmer to win enrollment in the program for 10 years, while the other farmer lost out.

Do you think the winning farmer is going to be very pleased with that deer hunter? I can assure you he will. He may even help him plant a few more food plots. The good news to those of you reading Whitetail News is that the products sold by The Whitetail Institute qualify under this program.

Fortunately, there are several more wildlife related incentives involved in the new CRP program. They also involve bonus points. For instance, in Iowa, seeding native grasses can get the farmer 10 bonus points. Seeding five prairie grasses and ten different types of flowers can get the farmer up to 50 bonus points.

Where I lease land in Indiana, some of the approved plants to use in CRP ground are Indian grass, big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass, sideoats gramma, Canada and Virginia wild rice, black-eyed Susan and several more. Planting mast-producing trees will also be rewarded with bonus points.

So instead of the CRP land where I lease being choked with grass that is not conducive to wildlife improvement, a stand of grasses and forages that will provide excellent cover and food now will be in the fields if this is part of the farmer’s bid. In the future, I see wildlife enhancement incentives such as this becoming more prevalent in the bidding process. Quail, rabbits, turkey, ground nesting birds and various other wildlife species will benefit from the enhancement of the habitat. On the deer hunting side, it will provide additional food for whitetails and even some good bedding sites since many of these plants will grow to a height of two or more feet.

How the CRP Program Can Work for You

As you can see, the new CRP bonus-point rules work out well for both the hunter and the farmer. It helps the farmer keep his land in the CRP program and helps the hunter improve the quality of the deer herd along with providing exceptional habitat for other game animals.

If you’re a landowner who also manages for deer, the bonus points for wildlife enhancement is certainly something to consider. As a landowner, your benefits under the new CRP guidelines are almost unlimited. Food plots, quality cover on CRP fields, wetland preservation, tree planting and other programs all will give you bonus points and help you make a successful bid on a CRP contract. At the same time, what you are doing is helping not only your deer management program, but a broad diversity of wildlife as well.

As I see it, the government’s CRP program has been improved to a large degree when it comes to wildlife. The CRP program should be around for a long time to come.

How Much Can You Plant?

Some of you may wonder how many acres you can plant in food plots on CRP land. CRP guidelines state food plots should be at least 1/4 acre, but not to exceed five acres per field as a rule. CRP fields less than five acres in size can be planted entirely in a food plot if it is surrounded by non-cultivated ground. Limits may vary from state to state, but in Indiana, food plots in larger fields cannot exceed 5 percent of the total field acreage. That’s plenty, though.

They also encourage food plots being located within 1/4 mile of quality winter cover, such as woodlands and shrub thickets. Food plots should be planted on the contour, with the slope level 5 percent or less. Long, narrow plots on the contour are ideal. In other words, place your food plots thoughtfully, so no soil erosion will occur.

I get approval for my food plot locations simply by marking my food plot locations on an aerial and topographical map and showing them to the representative at the local Natural Resources Conservation Office. He quickly approves my location and what I’m planting, and that’s it. Like most people, these representatives are busy, usually with big projects. Still, because you are committed to enhancing wildlife food and cover resources, they will be glad to help you.

A sheet is even available listing the approved annual and perennial products that can be planted in a food plot. They do note plantings will be early enough to allow species to mature before frost, and that plot plants have to remain standing over the winter to prevent erosion. Those managing food plots do this anyway, so this fits right in with the quality deer management program.

In my state, the NRCS even instructs you to take a soil test to determine the need for fertilizer and lime requirements. They also have a fertilizer application rate chart for you from Purdue University, one of the nation’s most prestigious agricultural schools. All in all, the Natural Resources Conservation Service has a wealth of free information available to help you plant your food plots on CRP ground. It’s a win-win situation for you.