February 2010 Updates page 9
17 February
Quail
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Unexpected early season hunt with the wife that turned to gold. 3 large coveys that produced a limit by noon...
CRP
...a reflection of the higher profitability of corn and soybean production in recent years. Most Midwestern states in the heart of the Corn Belt had less than 25% of the expiring 2009 CRP contract extensions accepted...USDA is currently developing a revised Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on CRP that will be released sometime in 2010. This will likely provide some guidance as to the future direction for CRP...renewable energy and climate-change efforts in the U.S. may lead to some changes in the future for the CRP program, compared to what CRP has looked like in the past two decades...
Corn and Soybean Digest, What’s Ahead for the CRP Program? Feb 16, 2010
The corn belt comment is no small point. For those that have traveled to other than corn belt states bird hunting CRP grass lands in those states does not compare to the quality in the corn belt. The difference lies in higher quality soil and rainfall make for the thick, tall grass well suited for pheasant survival. CRP in other lower rainfall and poorer soil states is knee high on the best years, thin and not supportive to pheasants.
This impact is further degrading to our Kansas, Iowa, Missouri region where 300 bushel/acre corn has been repeated for a good number of years. (Just 50 years ago 80 bushel/corn/acre was a successful crop) Compared this to east slope Rocky Mountain states where corn cannot be grown with sustainable profit margin. That makes CRP payments a higher income source in those states than grain farming. Many of those areas will not support pheasant/quail hunting. This is land that typically had been cattle pasture before attempts were made to make grain farming profitable. The degradation occurs that CRP will continue to be popular in the dryer farming regions while decreasing in the better grain producing states that also have the better benefit of wildlife/hunter dollars.
