Down on the Farm: September 2007

At Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever we put a great deal of effort into bringing the concerns of America's conservationists, sportsmen and women to Washington D.C. Of particular note has been our work to strengthen the conservation programs within the Federal Farm Bill. The Farm Bill addresses land use practices on over 50 million acres of America's most environmentally sensitive lands; including the 39.2 million acres making up the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP has been the nation's most successful conservation program in history. Since it's inception in 1982, it has prevented soil erosion, improved water quality, created habitat for pheasants, quail, ducks, and a myriad of other wildlife species, and stabilized rural farm economies. This year is a critical year for conservationists and wildlife as the 2007 Federal Farm Bill is debated. Down on the Farm will be a monthly up-date on the status of conservation in that debate.

For Wildlife and Pocketbook, CP-33 Pays

Down on the Farm: September 2007 A conservation program vital to the resurgence of the nation's bobwhite quail population is economically viable, according to a new farm-level economic analysis from the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri.

Initiated in 2005, Conservation Practice 33 (commonly referred to as upland or Bobwhite Buffers) is targeted at improving bobwhite quail habitat through the creation of habitat buffers along row crops. These transitional, or edge, areas provide important habitat for quail, grassland birds and other wildlife. The selling point of the program to landowners is that field edges typically produce marginal yields, and that the revenue doesn't outweigh the cost of production.

To analyze this concept, the Missouri Department of Conservation teamed with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri to complete a farm-level economic analysis of participation in CP-33 (Missouri has a total CP-33 allocation of 32,600 acres, the third largest in the nation behind Kansas and Illinois) Here is an excerpt of what the analysis revealed:

The study was conducted using FAPRI's well established representative farm analysis. The approach used real world yields, prices, operational costs, and soil rental rates within a sophisticated computer model. Farm-level economics, validated by a panel of participating farmers from Carroll County, were modeled over 10-years, and projections of future commodity prices and operational costs were incorporated. Results indicated that participation in CP-33 pays off in all the representative farm scenarios tested.

The average increase in returns to family living ranged from 25 cents to $2.49 per acre of the farm per year. Government payments plus lower operating expenses exceed declines in market receipts and produced positive returns to family living over the ten years modeled. FAPRI cautions that these findings do not apply to all farms, but is most applicable where crop yields along field edges suffer from the effects of adjacent tree growth. In these situations, whether corn is bringing $2 or $4 per bushel, CP33 pays.

Down on the Farm: September 2007 "The viability of conservation programs such as CP-33 hinges on their ability to serve wildlife and landowners," said Jim Wooley, Director of Field operations for Quail Forever, "This analysis reinforced what we knew to be true - that CP-33 can serve both interests."

For more information about the FAPRI study visit: www.fapri.missouri.edu.

For more information about CP33 visit: CP 33 Information.

If you have story ideas, dog photos, pre-1980 hunting photos and requests for future On The Wing consideration, please send correspondence to ahauck@pheasantsforever.org.

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