Pheasants Forever is hosting fifty-one informational meetings across Kansas for landowners and agricultural producers in advance of the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program  general sign-up that runs May 20 through June 14. Led by Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists, landowners can learn how to increase their farm or ranch income while creating wildlife habitat in the process.
“It is Pheasants Forever’s belief that there is room for conservation on every farm and ranch in the country,” says Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs, “Just a look at recent history – from a wet cycle to a historic drought last year – showcases this need for conservation. Programs like CRP provide stability for producers on lower-yielding, tougher-to-farm acres, while simultaneously serving as America’s top habitat tool for pheasants and quail.”
At CRP informational meetings, Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists will discuss how the Conservation Reserve Program works, and provide landowners with expertise on increasing the chances of their acreage qualifying for the program. While a majority of meetings are occurring prior to the opening of CRP General Sign-Up 45, in some areas meetings extend into the first few weeks of the open sign-up period.
Nomsen encourages landowners to attend the meetings and to not assume there’s no room for conservation practices in an era of record crop production and prices. “CRP rental rates may be significantly higher in some areas than in years past, some CRP practices allow for haying and grazing, others encourage pollinator habitat, and those pollinating insects are also necessary for agricultural production. Every farm in the country, whether it’s 200 acres or 2,000 acres, has a percentage of acreage in production that annually loses money. So we’re looking to work together with landowners to identify these areas and help their bottom line, and also help Pheasants Forever’s bottom line of conserving wildlife habitat.”
The CRP informational meetings are organized by Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Landowners who can’t make a CRP informational meeting are encouraged to make an appointment with their local Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist or visit their local FSA office.
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 135,000 members and 730 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.
Kansas Pheasants Forever CRP Meeting Schedule: Biologist Zac Eddy, 9 a.m., May 13, Stafford County Annex, 210 E. Third Ave., St. John; Biologist Zac Eddy, 9:30 a.m., May 14, Kansas Wetlands Education Center, 592 NE K-156 Highway, Great Bend; Biologist Mark Witecha, 8 a.m., May 15, USDA Service Center, 323 Main St., Jetmore; Biologist Zac Eddy, 1 p.m., May 15, Edwards County Fairgrounds, 1305 S. Niles, Kinsley; Biologist Mark Witecha, 8 a.m., May 17, USDA Service Center, Intersection of Hwy. 283 and Airport Rd., Ness City.