With Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contacts closing and some not being renewed, many landowners are left with questions about what could—or should—happen next.
Texas AgriLife Extension Service will host an “After the Conservation Reserve Program: Wildlife, Farming and Grazing” seminar on June 16 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at 1102 E. FM 1294, Lubbock, Texas. The program is aimed at answering landowner questions.
Registration is $40. Robert Scott, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent, Lubbock, says that includes lunch, refreshments, and conference materials.
You may register by calling the AgriLife Extension office in Lubbock at 806-775-1680, or by mail to Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Lubbock County, Box 10536, Lubbock, Texas 79408. Checks should be made payable to the Lubbock Livestock Committee.
Program registration begins at 7 a.m., followed by the program from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Three continuing education units (CEUs) can be obtained by attendees.
“The 2008 Farm Bill capped CRP nationwide at 32 million acres, which is about 20 percent less than the 39.2 million-acre cap provided by the 2002 Farm Act,” says Ken Cearley, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist, in Amarillo.
Contracts on almost 659,000 acres expire statewide in 2010, more than quarter million acres in the South Plains, Cearley notes. Some of these will not have the option to renew. Others face the decision to renew their contracts or not.
“This meeting is aimed at both those who are unable to renew and those contemplating taking their land out of the program at the end of their contact,” he says. Our aim is to give up-to-date information about the popular program as well as options to consider for land management after CRP.”
For more, contact Scott at 806-775-1680 or via E-mail to rscott@ag.tamu.edu or Cearley at 806-677-5600 or E-mail to kcearley@ag.tamu.edu.