waaaay east central Colorado | Most of the expiring CRP I've heard of is going for $800-1200.
As to your cropping question, I do some continuous cropping (with average at best results), but I do no till most of my ground. With that said, a few guys here are continuous cropping millet with good success, and a brave soul or two are thinking about continuous corn. I either have a longer memory than those guys, or they are a LOT more optimistic than me ;)
As to no-tilling into CRP, again some guys are doing it here the last two years with good success. Most of the guys put wheat into the CRP, but one guy just a few miles from me put in corn this spring. Most of the wheat stands have been acceptable, almost all done with heavy hoe-drills, very little with disc drills, and the corn stands have been adequate. But it all works when it rains!
As much as I'm a believer in no-till, that cuss-word'n Indian grass junk that seems to be ubiquitous in local CRP is almost impossible to kill chemically in the best of times. The guys who are no-tilling into the CRP miiiight, maaaaybe, be adding just a liiiitle extra gly to the mix accidentally. . . I'm not sold that the stuff will stay dead, but the jury is still out. The wheat yields into CRP that I've heard are anywhere from 20 to 50 bu/acre, and I haven't heard what the CRP corn has done (most of it didn't finish well). Bear in mind that this last year was a phenomenal year for us, with a lot of "regular" ground producing 70-80 bu/acre.
It's my opinion that CRP ground should be worked for the first year and then planted to wheat, but I understand completely why guys are trying to no-till it. I'm anxious to see what the next few years brings to the fields that have been made productive in this manner.
Hope this helped. |
NE Colorado Guys
