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The Agriculture Department will allow grazing on thousands of acres of land set aside for conservation in a bid to relieve pressure for livestock feed in the wake of the devastating Midwest floods.
The decision to open Conservation Reserve Program land, announced yesterday, is USDA's effort to balance the needs of production and conservation in a time of increasing demand, low carry-over stocks and decreased production from the floods.
"We have a crisis situation in the Midwest and other parts of the country that calls for drastic action," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said in a statement. "Major flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries came at one of the worst times for agriculture. Flood waters inundated thousands of acres that cannot be salvaged for production this growing season, and it happened at a time of record crop, food and fuel prices."
USDA will allow farmers in presidentially declared disaster areas to open their CRP land to grazing. The move affects land in 16 states -- the bulk in key Midwest farming states that suffered the most from severe weather this spring. In Iowa, which was hit the hardest by the recent floods, more than three-fourths of the state's counties were declared disaster areas.
Landowners usually sign 10-15 year conservation contracts under CRP, allowing them to receive federal payments in exchange for following strict rules to keep the land in conservation. Under the new announcement, farmers can allow grazing for a reduced payment.
The decision falls short of what many Iowa lawmakers had requested. Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) each sent letters to Schafer requesting him to release CRP land to grow hay, as well as for grazing. And Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (R) also asked USDA to release some CRP land to be planted with soybeans, milo, sorghum or hay for the livestock industry.
Iowa has more than 1.8 million acres of CRP land.
All three Iowa politicians released statements applauding the decision. Harkin and Culver also vowed to continue to press USDA to allow more use of CRP land.
"I appreciate the USDA taking this step today, which will help relieve some of the pressure on Iowa's livestock producers. However, I believe this must be an initial and not a final step," Culver said.
As farmers face rising feed costs, USDA is increasingly turning to the millions of acres enrolled in CRP to help meet some of their needs. The department already announced earlier this year that farmers across the country could allow haying and grazing on CRP land, as long as they avoid the nesting season for birds.
The most recent announcement opens up CRP in the disaster areas for grazing before those deadlines and allows for more cattle or other livestock on CRP land. The previous announcement limited grazing to 75 percent of the "full stocking rate"; now landowners in the disaster zone can allow the maximum number of animals on their land.
Harkin said he spoke on the phone with Schafer yesterday to ask USDA to make similar expanded concessions for haying. Under the current rules, Iowa landowners have to wait until after the grass nesting season ends Aug. 2 to allow haying.
"The recent flooding and excessive rainfall have adversely impacted each sector of agriculture in the Midwest," Harkin said. "Crops have been lost, but now we are seeing a shortage of feed availability coupled with high feed prices, which could jeopardize the survival of many producers this year. That's why access to CRP land, carefully done, is so critical."
CRP is a favorite program of conservation and wildlife groups for the millions of acres of habitat it provides. The groups have dubbed it the "holy grail for wildlife" and the United States' "duck factory." Ducks Unlimited credits CRP for adding 2.2 million ducks to the fall migration each year and conserving more than 450 million tons of topsoil.
Barton James, director of agriculture conservation policy for Ducks Unlimited, said the group supports USDA's new announcement on grazing as "common sense policy" that will help ranchers in hardship. But the group is concerned about continuing pressure to open up CRP acres to row crops.
"Cultivating Conservation Reserve Program land without reimbursing the taxpayer for the money paid to keep their marginal cropland in a more appropriate use sends the wrong message about the value that we place on conservation," James said.
The decision to allow grazing in disaster areas affects land in Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois, as well as Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.
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