The landscape is turning green in the Midwest, and Peoples Company Land Managers are anxious to get out from behind their desks and onto farms. Managers are overseeing tasks like dirt work and tile improvement projects, farm repairs, and CRP management.

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts are a valuable tool in Peoples Company management model of farming the most productive acres of each farm while also protecting the environmentally sensitive acres.

Tillable acres with significant erosion or other concerns are often also the lowest producing acres of a farm. If those acres can be enrolled into a paying CRP contract, the farm’s overall yield can be increased while the farmer invests in costly inputs only where there will be a strong return. Acres in CRP also have ecosystem benefits of enhanced wildlife and pollinator habitat, improved water quality, and carbon sequestration.

It is common for CRP contracts to have a required maintenance mid contract. Peoples Company Land Managers often rely on burning, spraying, interseeding, and mowing as management practices

In the video, a crew from the University of Northern Iowa burns the Irvine Prairie near Dysart, Iowa. Burning is highly beneficial for practices like pollinator habitat (CP-42) and prairie strips (CP-43). Prescribed fire reduces litter accumulation, keeps warm-season grasses dominant, slows the invasion of woody species, can stimulate wildflower growth, and is vital to maintaining species diversity in a stand.

Peoples Company is proud to partner with University of Northern Iowa's Tallgrass Prairie Center to educate landowners and operators about the practical uses of prairie strips to reduce soil loss and create wildlife habitat. Landowners interested in learning more Peoples Company’s approach to Land Management are encouraged to contact Peoples Company Land Management at landmanagement@peoplescompany.com or visit our website www.PeoplesCompany.com.