In response to the announcement from the Kansas Farm Service Agency (FSA) that emergency haying and grazing of certain land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will be allowed in certain counties, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman urges farmers and ranchers to immediately meet with their county FSA and Natural Resource and Conservation Service officials to request any special exemptions necessary for CRP acres that were hayed or grazed in 2011 or 2012.
TOPEKA, Kan. – In response to the announcement from the Kansas Farm Service Agency (FSA) that emergency haying and grazing of certain land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will be allowed in certain counties, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman urges farmers and ranchers to immediately meet with their county FSA and Natural Resource and Conservation Service officials to request any special exemptions necessary for CRP acres that were hayed or grazed in 2011 or 2012.
The Kansas FSA State Committee, in a July 11, 2013, meeting, determined to retain the current Kansas policy with a minimum average grazing and haying height of five inches. In addition, the committee accepted a recommendation to prohibit haying and grazing of CRP land in 2013 if that land was utilized for emergency haying and grazing in 2011 or 2012. The committee granted an exception to that prohibition in areas where adequate moisture conditions have permitted sufficient cover growth and vigor, as determined on a county or area with the county basis.
“Opening these acres up to haying or grazing immediately will provide critical forage for livestock and could very likely be the difference between maintaining a cowherd or facing liquidation,” said Secretary Rodman. “Kansas farmers and ranchers should contact their county FSA and district NRCS officials immediately, to request the exemption for CRP acres that were hayed or grazed in 2011 or 2012. I strongly encourage FSA to expeditiously review requests on a county-by-county basis to ensure our farmers and ranchers have access to forage for their livestock.”
Secretary Rodman expressed sincere appreciation to the USDA FSA agency state committee and FSA director Adrian Polansky for the release of CRP acres for emergency haying and grazing in certain counties in Kansas.
For more information about Kansas county FSA offices, click here. For a map of Kansas counties approved for emergency CRP grazing, click here. To learn more about the CRP emergency haying and grazing requirements, click here.
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