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What is CP-33?

  • In 2004, the United States Department of Agriculture-Farm Service Agency (FSA) established conservation practice Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds, or CP-33, under the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
  • CP-33 aims to provide habitat for northern bobwhite and other upland birds via landowner incentives to establish native grass buffers along row-crop field margins.
  • CP-33 is a "win-win" for producers—it allows retirement of unproductive field margins, often with net financial gains through practice incentives, while providing critical habitat for quail and other upland wildlife.
Male Bobwhite

Photo by Joe Mac Hudspeth

About The Site

This website contains information pertaining to the CP33 practice, which is administered through the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program by the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. This is not an official USDA-FSA webpage, but instead a webpage developed and distributed by Mississippi State University about an FSA program.

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Recent Publications

Conover, R.R., S.J. Dinsmore, L.W. Burger, Jr. 2011. Effects of conservation practices on bird nest density and survival in intensive agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment Download

Singleton, L.C., K.O. Evans, L.W. Burger Jr., R. Hamrick, D. Godwin. 2011. Mississippi’s Conservation Reserve Program. CP33-Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds. Mississippi Bird Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, Annual Report, 2006–2010. 28 pp. Download

Di Giacomo, A. S., and J. L. De Casenave. Use and importance of crop and field-margin habitats for birds in a neotropical agricultural ecosystem. Condor 112:283-293. Download


DVDFree DVD Request

A free CP-33 information DVD and brochure are available through the Mississippi State University, Forest and Wildlife Research Center. The DVD titled "CP33 Upland Habitat Buffers: Common Sense Conservation" was supported by Quail Unlimited, the Southeast Quail Study Group, and Natural Resource Enterprises. The CP-33 DVD is for landowners and agricultural producers interested in learning more about the wildlife and economic benefits gained from the CP-33 practice.

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