July 9, 2008

USDA releases reserved acres for livestock grazing

The USDA is releasing acreage from its Conservation Reserve Program for livestock grazing in some flood-affected areas of 16 states.

The crisis situation in the Midwest calls for drastic action, USDA Secretary Ed Schafer said Monday in a press release.

The acreage will be released for grazing in counties that have been designated as presidential disaster areas because of flooding, the release said.

Grazing will be permitted only in counties designated as primary and contiguous disaster areas and "only because of flooding," the USDA said.

The USDA pays producers to refrain from farming 34.6 million acres under the CRP, which is designed to save soil from being over-farmed and keep environmentally sensitive land out of production.

Major flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries "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," Schafer said.