2013 Farm Bill and NRCS Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative

Parts of the 2013 Farm Bill remained unresolved, but sections concerning conservation programs - like the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative - were funded through FY2013 at the end of 2012. The NRCS's Initiative Coordinator, Jon Ungerer, discusses the value of the Initiative funding managed-grazing programs that help the grass and therefore the rancher's bottom line, and also help support the habitat of the Lesser Prairie Chicken. PLJV's Barth Crouch discusses cost-share funds in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) ranchers use for projects related to managed grazing. NRCS district conservationist Greg Henderson terms EQIP funds available under the Initiative as a "life saver" for land coming out of CRP being reverted to grazing land rather than being plowed and planted to crops. CRP land often hadn't been fenced; EQIP funds help provide fencing and livestock watering systems. This episode of Playa Country is a the second in a four-part series on the Lesser Prairie Chicken. It originally aired June 11, 2013.