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Group considering grazing on conservation grasslandBISMARCK, N.D. (AP)--North Dakota's agriculture commissioner says federal conservation grassland in North Dakota should be open to grazing to help ranchers in drought-stricken areas find pasture for their cattle. The emergency request comes after state officials met with about 70 farmers and ranchers in early June in Antler, in northwestern North Dakota, Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said June 9. "They told us, 'We got a major problem with pasture--there's nothing on it,'" he said. Johnson is the chairman of the state's Agricultural Drought Task Force. It has about two dozen members, including the state Agriculture Department, the Game and Fish Department and the federal Farm Service Agency. The group is slated to meet June 10 by teleconference. Johnson said he expects it will recommend the immediate opening of the conservation grassland to grazing. The recommendation will be forwarded to Gov. John Hoeven, the state's congressional delegation and federal Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, a former North Dakota governor. Schafer, last month, said the federal government would open millions of acres of Conservation Reserve Program to haying and grazing after birds have finished nesting on grasslands this summer. Johnson said that would be during the first week of August in North Dakota--too late for many ranchers. "There is a need to get access to some of this right now," he said. CRP, which started in 1985, pays landowners to idle environmentally sensitive land for conservation. Farmers are paid to plant cover such as grass on the land. The recommendation to be considered June 10 would allow ranchers to graze their cattle on CRP land in counties that can "show a grass production loss," Johnson said. Pasture growth has been near nil over most of the state because of a cool, dry spring, said Jeff Knudson, a program manager with the state Agriculture Department. "A lot of the state pastures just never got going," Knudson said. "Guys are running out of feed and hay." Johnson and Knudson said the emergency request by the state drought group does not cover haying. "Haying is much more controversial with the wildlife groups because of the nesting season," Knudson said. The USDA has allowed emergency haying on CRP land in North Dakota and other states due to drought in other years. CRP payments were reduced if the land was opened to haying and grazing during drought years, though ranchers typically pay farmers the percentage of lost income for allowing use of the land. North Dakota has about 3 million acres enrolled in the CRP, after losing about 400,000 acres from contracts that were not renewed last year. It was the biggest exodus of acres of any state from the program. 7/14/08 Date: 7/3/08 Advertisement
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