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<DIV>(Embedded image moved to file: pic04046.gif)E&ENews PM
<BR>
An E&E Publishing Service <BR>AGRICULTURE: USDA
allows haying on conservation acres in disaster <BR>zones
(Wednesday, August 6, 2008)
<BR>Allison
Winter, E&ENews PM reporter
<BR>Farmers hit
by Midwest floods could be allowed to cut hay on
<BR>thousands of acres set aside under a federal conservation program, <BR>the
Agriculture Department said today.
<BR>In a bid to
relieve pressure for livestock feed, USDA is allowing <BR>states and
counties in declared disaster areas to open some
<BR>Conservation Reserve Program tracts for haying. Farmers could cut
<BR>hay on part of their land in exchange for a reduced federal
<BR>payment, as long as they avoid nesting season and keep some
land <BR>in grasses.
<BR>The
decision to allow haying expands use of conservation acres
<BR>under long-term contracts to provide benefits for soil and water
<BR>conservation and wildlife habitat. Last month, USDA said farmers
<BR>hit by weather disasters could allow grazing on conservation land. <BR>The
department had held off on allowing haying to protect
<BR>ground-nesting birds, but Iowa lawmakers had pressed USDA on
the <BR>matter. The state's congressional delegation sent a letter
to <BR>Agriculture Secretary Ed Schaefer yesterday saying
the limitations <BR>were unfair to farmers with land that lacked the fencing
or <BR>watering facilities to make it available for
grazing. USDA had <BR>already allowed farmers to hay land in
drought-affected areas. <BR>"For these producers, access to
hay harvest on CRP is the most <BR>practicable way for their
livestock to benefit from hay on CRP <BR>acres, or for the
hay to enhance supplies for feed," the letter <BR>says.
<BR>The scope of today's
decision is still unclear. Senior USDA <BR>officials
sent a memo to state and county Farm Service Agency
<BR>offices, allowing them to open some CRP land for haying. But each
<BR>qualified county will still have to make the decision whether or
<BR>not to allow farmers to participate. All of the recent
<BR>presidentially declared flood disaster areas are
eligible. <BR>The move could affect land in 16
states -- most are Midwest <BR>farming states that
suffered the most from severe weather this <BR>spring. In
Iowa, which was hit the hardest by floods, more than
<BR>three-fourths of the state's counties were declared disaster
<BR>areas.
<BR>Iowa has more than 1.8 million acres of CRP land.
<BR>As farmers face rising feed
costs, USDA is increasingly turning to <BR>the millions of acres enrolled in CRP
to help meet some of their <BR>needs.
<BR>CRP is a favorite program of conservation
and wildlife groups for <BR>the millions of acres of habitat it provides.
Ducks Unlimited <BR>credits CRP for adding 2.2 million ducks
to the fall migration <BR>each year and conserving more than
450 million tons of topsoil. <BR>Want to read more stories like
this?
<BR>Click here to start a free trial to
E&E -- the best way to track <BR>policy and markets.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>About E&ENews PM
<BR>E&ENews PM is written and produced by the staff of E&E Publishing,
<BR>LLC. A late afternoon roundup providing coverage of all the
<BR>breaking and developing policy news from Capitol Hill, around
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headlines. <BR>E&ENews PM publishes daily at 4:30
p.m.
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR><B>Pollinator
Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">It's only a deal if it's where <I>you</I> want to go. Find your travel deal <A title="http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047" href="http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047" target="_blank"><B>here</B></A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>