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Food plots and CRP program

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impactarcher

Member
I know when your planting food plots in ground that is enrolled in the CRP program there are rules to follow. Can someone fill me in on some of these "regulations". I know very little other then you can't plant more then 10% of the CRP acres in plots and they have to be grains like beans, corn etc. Clover, brassicas are not allowed. Anyone??
 
I am not sure if my experience in Davis County would hold true for every other county in Iowa, to be sure you should check with the office in your county. For me, I stop by the NRCS office every spring and update a map of my farm that is there on file with the location of the food plots I will be putting in that year. Their main concern is that the location(s) be on flat, non-HEL ground.

But pretty much anything is acceptable in the 10% area of the CRP acres, brassicas and clover are just fine. In fact, you may be able to plant a clover mix in acres beyond the 10% limit. The NRCS office may well have up-to-date aerial photos of your place too, so I would recommend adhering to the 10% limitation, BUT I have never found them to be unreasonable either and I am pretty sure the "CRP cops" aren't going to show up if you have a bit more than the 10%.

As far as what to plant...I would read Dbltree's forum and follow his advice.
 
If you are putting in new crp, be sure to put in fire breaks for burning, they can double as your clover plots and not count against your % of food plots.
 
I just spoke with someone at our local NRCS office. Green browse food plots are not allowed in ground with CRP except fire breaks You must plant a grain. Here's the catch if you want to call it one: After August first which is the end of the nesting period, you may then plant a green food source like turnips or clover but it has to outside the nesting period and it has to be replanted into a grain the following spring.

Why? They don't allow green browse food plots because they realize it requires maintenance like mowing and they don't want disturbance to the CRP during the may 15- August 1st nesting season.
 
Daver said:
I am not sure if my experience in Davis County would hold true for every other county in Iowa, to be sure you should check with the office in your county. For me, I stop by the NRCS office every spring and update a map of my farm that is there on file with the location of the food plots I will be putting in that year. Their main concern is that the location(s) be on flat, non-HEL ground.

But pretty much anything is acceptable in the 10% area of the CRP acres, brassicas and clover are just fine. In fact, you may be able to plant a clover mix in acres beyond the 10% limit. The NRCS office may well have up-to-date aerial photos of your place too, so I would recommend adhering to the 10% limitation, BUT I have never found them to be unreasonable either and I am pretty sure the "CRP cops" aren't going to show up if you have a bit more than the 10%.

As far as what to plant...I would read Dbltree's forum and follow his advice.
Click to expand...

Not true according to the person at the Monroe county NRCS office. She specifically stated that green browse food plots were not eligible. Food plots must be a grain crop. She did say however that after the nesting season you could plant turnips as long as that ground was replanted in grains the following year.
 
I think she is in the minority IMO....

I think it depends whom you work with and what your intentions are etc.

Never heard of the 66' rule either but may need to re-educate myself on that front.
 
Food plots

Note: Certain CRP plans allow for food plots, others do not, for example, if you have a filter strip...continuous CRP along a creek, I do not think they will allow you to plant any food plots in that particular CRP plan??

Make sure you check first!
 
That makes no sense. They are worried about nesting but won't let you plant excellent brooding area for chicks? I jump the pheasant and quail out of the clover all the time in the summer, and there aren't many around. They are in there feeding. What kind of program are you looking at?
 
Hardwood11 is right on the money. They have several CRP programs out there. On our farm we have 2 x 12.5 acre plots in the CRP Songbird / Wildflower program. You can't do ANYTHING on those. No fire break, food plot, etc. You can burn after August or spot mow for weeds. That is it. The only way to know for sure is to visit your local FSA / NCRS office.
Good luck!
 
Your going to get a lot of different answers here, basically because every county office has different interpretations of the rules. I work with 4 different offices on crop ground, and every one of them have a different interpretation of certain regulations, which are state wide regulations.

I know the difference between Ringgold, Union, and Adair county on food plots in CRP are totally different according to the person in the office.
 
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