WASHINGTON - As drought conditions persist in certain regions throughout the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced temporary assistance to livestock producers through FSA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Under limited conditions, farmers and ranchers affected by drought will be allowed to use certain additional CRP acres for haying or grazing under emergency conditions while maintaining safeguards to the conservation and wildlife benefits provided by CRP.
In addition, USDA announced that the reduction to CRP annual rental payments related to emergency haying or grazing will be reduced from 25 percent to 10 percent. Further, the sale of hay will be allowed under certain conditions. These measures take into consideration the quality losses of the hay and will provide needed assistance to livestock producers.
CRP is a voluntary program that provides producers annual rental payments on their land in exchange for planting resource-conserving vegetation on cropland to help prevent erosion, provide wildlife habitat and improve the environment.
CRP acres enrolled under certain practices can already be used for emergency haying and grazing during natural disasters to provide much-needed feed to livestock. FSA state offices have already opened haying, grazing or both in 432 counties in response to natural disaster this year.
Given the continued multi-year drought in some regions, forage for livestock is already substantially reduced. The USDA's action will allow lands that are not typically eligible for emergency haying and grazing to be used with appropriate protections to maintain the CRP environmental and wildlife benefits. The expanded haying and grazing will only be allowed following the local primary nesting season, which already has passed in many areas. Especially sensitive lands such as stream buffers are generally not eligible.
For more information about the CRP program, go online to www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.
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