So far the loss of CRP I have seen out there is gut wrenching. Farmers now are turning to high corn and grain prices to plow up expired parcels. The end result is huge habitat loss which equals pheasant loss. It would seem the CRP program is in trouble from what I have seen. Thoughts on this issue and the future of it?
The US does have a surplus of most grains including corn. (Carryover) the amount of grain in storage at the time the new crop is being harvested. That carryover and estimated carryover has a lot to do with the current value and futures value of commodities. The futures market insures that there will always be a carryover, the less the estimated carryover the higher the price of commodities. (controls domestic usage and export sales)
To answer Your question. The weather, if there's good weather throughout most of the grain producing areas US and Global, the price of grains will go down. Developing countries, population and Corn Ethanol will probably keep grain production in the US profitable. May drop a couple bucks a bushel for corn.
If the time comes when the US does not have a carryover or we run out of say corn or wheat One can only imagine.
I am a long time believer in the CRP program, but this year for the first time since 1987, I have no CRP. I could have re-enrolled my acres for 15 years for $31/acre. Land prices are $1,500/acre and above for this type land in the area.
I don't plan to plow my CRP up and will continue to operate from a wildlife friendly position. A couple things influenced my decision. 1) what is $31/acre going to be worth in 15 years?; 2) I have confidence that I know what is best for the wildlife at my place and can do practices for them without getting the blessing of NRCS; 3) bad taste in my mouth dealing with NRCS on the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative.
What I see coming if things continue is a loss of bird #'s which equals worse hunting then leading to either paying for private hunts or people not buying licenses if public hunting worsens. End result less revenue for the F&G departments eventually. Pretty much a domino effect will trickle down. The last few years of record pheasant numbers and harvests may be a thing of the past as we know it.
M R Byrd I tip my hat to guys like you putting habitat over $$.
I think all South Dakota has to do to see it's future is look at Iowa. I live in Michigan and hunted Iowa from 1986-2007. We hunted during the peak of CRP in Iowa and had fabulous pheasant hunting for many years. The rise of ethanol just killed CRP in Iowa and as a result so went the pheasants. Last year, hunters took 120,000 birds. As recently as 2005, I believe, they were over 1,000,000. This last harvest season, a good friend saw one pheasant while combining his 300 acres in Iowa. I do think South Dakota manages the pheasant resource better than Iowa but ultimately, the fate of South Dakota's pheasants could be the same as Iowa's.
What I see coming if things continue is a loss of bird #'s which equals worse hunting then leading to either paying for canned hunts or people not buying licenses if public hunting worsens. End result less revenue for the F&G departments eventually. Pretty much a domino effect will trickle down. The last few years of record pheasant numbers and harvests may be a thing of the past as we know it.
M R Byrd I tip my hat to guys like you putting habitat over $$.
Much of Iowa's problem was due to a bad winter kill like SD. CRP in IA has never been huge or ever will be. The birds will return in that area. They have done well just with the cover they have there. Dredge ditches, buffer strips, fence rows, tree groves and so on. This is at least been the story around Nth central IA for ever. In fact even though they have always done well there, IA dnr has added public land and more cover in areas I grew up. Old friends farms now habitat. So in some areas there is more cover. All is not lost, just in a cycle. At least for IA. Other states will see some decline for certain, but there will still be opportunity out there. As long as corn goes in your gas tank, the trend will continue. One thing that has helped birds in nth IA is the practice of no till. Or at least through winter. During hunting season it is over whelming the # of acres of corn stubble. The birds spend all day out there eluding you.
We took 250 acres out of CRP in the last few years. Now only have 10 acres left.
After my dad died, my mother didn't want anything to do with the fed program because they can come back for past payments if they deem you haven't done all the proper things to maintain the land.
As an absentee farmer she just didn't want to screw with the risks of repayment. Also as a recent widow she liked that the farmer she rents to pays her more.
Overall the loss of CRP is really just an unintended consequence of the ethanol boondoggle. 40% of the entire corn crop of this country is turned into alcohol and that number is going to go higher as the EPA rules mandate the increasing use of set amounts of alcohol going forward.
That raises demand for corn, which raises demand for land, which increases corn prices which forces higher utilization rates of land which means less room for pheasants and hunters.
I think we are only seeing the beginning. On top of the loss of CRP, there is also the loss of wetlands.. There are also thousands of acres of pasture ground in the western third of east river, that is certainly capable of producing much better ROI with cash rent for crops, rather than pasture rent.
I can think of over 2000 acres east river already that was pasture, and has been converted to crop ground over the last 2 1/2 years..
With todays equipment, they can turn 640 acres of pasture into crop ground fast..
Sorry FCSpringer, but I think you are way off when you say it is a cycle in Iowa. You lose over one half million acres of CRP land in the last ten years and you drop from being the number one pheasant state in the union and go from over a million birds harvested to 120,000 and you call it a cycle? Give me a break! I call it a disaster. Eastern central South Dakota will follow quickly if they don't watch out. yes, bad weather has contributed but never has Iowa seen a "cycle" like this. Beware!
LOL strong words. Well your wrong. Your numbers may be right but I grew up there. We saw the same thing as a kid. No birds back in the 80's. CRP was poor back then and has been forever. Iowa is a farm. period. Always will be. It is the best ground in the "Union" for growing crops. The reason our neighbors land sells for 7-10,000$ per acre. In Nth central IA as "I" said nothing has changed. Maybe you have never been there. I am there every time I go "Home". The same groves, same cover, and now the same farms I castrated and vaccinated pigs on my whole life, are now your public hunting. The birds the past 8 years, with exception of the last two because of winter. Were in fact way more populous then the 40 years I remember ever. They will bounce back. At least in this area, already are. I will send some pictures at Xmas.
Thank you for defining that. So you don't see a difference between released birds and wild birds? I am not comdeming or supporting U guide, I just think that shooting birds that are released to be shot is different than providing habitat that produces wild birds.
Thank you for defining that. So you don't see a difference between released birds and wild birds? I am not comdeming or supporting U guide, I just think that shooting birds that are released to be shot is different than providing habitat that produces wild birds.
Um maybe I should define more what I was meaning by the word canned. Anything non-public meaning private. If public hunting gets bad people will either have to turn towards that or quit hunting. I agree there is a difference between released birds and habitat produced for wild birds but bottom line both are private hunting type arrangements.
