CRP emergency haying, grazing area expanded
By BILL HARMON
Executive Director, Marion County FSA
Bill R. Fuller, state director of the Kansas Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently announced that livestock producers in counties approved for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) emergency haying and grazing may now hay or graze CRP in an expanded area in the Midwest, which includes all counties in Kansas.
"This expansion will allow livestock producers from eligible counties to obtain needed hay and forage," Fuller said.
Thirty-eight counties have been approved for emergency haying and grazing of CRP acreage but Marion County is not one of them.
Emergency haying in Kansas was authorized to begin July 16. At least 50 percent of each field or contiguous fields must be left unhayed for wildlife. At least 25 percent of each field or contiguous CRP fields left ungrazed for wildlife, or graze not more than 75 percent of the stocking rate. Emergency haying and grazing in Kansas is allowed through Sept. 11. Livestock must be removed by Sept. 12, and hay must be removed from the field within 30 days from the end of the haying period. Emergency haying and grazing is not allowed on the same acreage.
Livestock producers in the 38 eligible Kansas counties may purchase hay or conduct emergency haying or grazing of eligible CRP acres from CRP participants in any county in the expanded area in the Midwest. The expanded area includes counties within a 150 mile radius of any approved county for emergency haying and grazing.
The area includes counties in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
Fuller also announced that FSA reduced the normal 25 percent payment reduction to 10 percent. CRP participants with acreage hayed or grazed by livestock producers from approved emergency haying and grazing counties will be assessed a 10 percent reduction in the annual rental payment for the acres actually hayed or grazed.
Livestock producers must certify they are an eligible livestock producer in an eligible county approved for the program.
CRP participants also are reminded that the expanded areas that are in the 38 approved counties cannot produce hay or allow grazing on the CRP for their own use.
CRP participants also must understand and not confuse managed hay/graze policies for CRP with this emergency hay/graze authority. CRP acreages in Marion County, as an expanded area under this emergency program, can only be made available for producers in counties approved for emergency hay/graze use of CRP.
CRP participants must obtain a modified conservation plan and the FSA county committee approval for the emergency haying and grazing before the eligible livestock producer may begin haying or grazing.
