This is not correct. DU does offer incentives to landowners to develop waterfowl habitat in priority conservation regions like the MAV and Gulf Coast where the best available scientific information and modeling tell us there are foraging habitat shortfalls (i.e., potentially more birds than there is food available to feed them). Typically, DU will provide a water control structure and require the landowner to pick up, deliver and install the structure to flood agricultural fields, or preferably, set aside areas too wet for traditional crops that tend to produce moist soil plants that provide natural foods to ducks. In exchange for this structure, DU requires that the landowner flood his fields or moist soil area for a predetermined period, and flooding is typically rainfall dependent (lack of winter rainfall is not typically an issue in the MAV). In the MAV, this is from November 15 or as soon after harvest as possible if it is a rice, soybean milo, or corn field, until March 1. There is absolutely no requirement that any portion of the crop remain unharvested. Farmers operate agribusinesses, and most dont have the luxury of leaving crops unharvested to benefit waterfowl. After all, the harvest is what generates their annual income.

Further it is not necessary to leave standing grain to attract ducks. The ducks, DU, and our conservation partners know that harvested crop fields typically have sufficient waste grain (grain that is lost during normal mechanical harvest operations) that can provide food to migrating and wintering birds. It is more attractive to ducks when it is shallowly flooded, though ducks do frequently feed in dry fields in some areas. Landowners do have the option to leave standing grain if they so choose, but there is no requirement to leave any portion of the crop unharvested. DU only requires that they close the structure to hold water during the periods specified by agreements.

Farmers get other benefits from winter flooding, , including erosion control, better soil tilthe, no winter weed green-up for areas under water, reductions in weed seeds (as ducks remove the weed seeds in addition to waste grain), retention of soil nutrients and other benefits. DU views this as a win-win situation, as benefits go to the ducks (foraging habitat), the farmers, and the landscapes within which these farms occur through improvements to water quality. Ultimately, while the programs initially were conceived to restore foraging habitat in severely altered landscapes, the programs increasingly are becoming Best Management Practices that contribute toward sustainable land use practices of benefit to wildlife, fisheries, water quality, and people who depend upon these systems for livelihoods and/or recreational benefits.