Order that stopped CRP grazing continues to be a problem for officials, producers

By Jennifer M. Latzke

A U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary restraining order that stopped emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program acres.

Judge John C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington, Seattle, late July 8, granted the order against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Farm Service Agency, effectively stopping the Critical Feed Use provisions set forth.

The order, filed on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation and six of its ffiliates, stops USDA from processing or approving any additional CRP contract modifications that allow haying or grazing. It also further ordered the USDA to tell those CRP participants already haying or grazing lands that they must remove cattle and halt haying operations immediately.

FSA offices have already begun notifying producers of the restraining order.

John Fuston, state executive director for the Texas FSA, explained this restraining order could not have come at a worse time for Texas cattlemen.

"This is having a huge impact on farmers and ranchers," Fuston said. "Our nesting season ended July 1 and we turned out on the CRP. We were dry all last winter and spring. Really, a lot of producers needed a home for their cattle and in some of the counties we had as many as 150 contracts already approved in the Panhandle, from Abilene on north."

Fuston said the Critical Feed Use provision was supposed to be good for producers and for American consumers, as it would keep meat prices somewhat stable at supermarkets.

"With the high price of corn, the cost of gain in feedyards is rising," Fuston said. "This was going to help those folks who were losing $100 to $200 per head back off those high price gains."

Ironically, in Texas, Fuston said, the wildlife folks were on board with the FSA and USDA's decision.

"They said it was a good thing to graze the CRP for the habitat," Fuston said. "They were totally surprised that after the nesting season a federal judge would rule in favor of the National Wildlife Federation." Texas was hoping to reduce the fuel load on its CRP acres this hot and dry summer, after having more than one million acres burn this past spring.

FSA officials working with Natural Resource Conservation offices, created grazing conservation plans for the CRP acres in question--answering the concern of the NWF and other organizations.

"The NRCS works with the FSA on the technical aspect and there is very sound and scientific technical language," Fuston said. "They have to leave a certain height of the grass, or at least half of the grass in the field. They can't abuse wildlife or the grass. We had sound technical conservation grazing plans for every producer."

Bill Fuller, Kansas State FSA executive director, concurred. In Kansas nearly 170,000 acres were eligible for haying and grazing, or about 1,402 contracts. As of July 3, 434 contracts were approved at a total of $81,000.

The temporary restraining order, though, means that producers in states that already opened up eligible CRP acres to grazing and haying have to pull cattle out, leave hay in the field, and applications are in limbo.

"We were directed to let all CRP participants who signed up or prospective participants in the program know that it's off," Fuller said. Fuller said he's willing to do anything to refund the $75 per contract fee producers had to pay to sign-up, and recognized that approved applicants had already invested in preparing the land for haying and grazing.

FSA offices are required by law to notify producers of the order, but many offices, Fuston said, have overworked staffs.

"We've got all kinds of work to do in our county offices and our staffs have been reduced by 50 percent," he said. "We just don't have enough people to do spot checks." Producers not in compliance with the order will face penalties.

"They can be found in non-compliance with their CRP contract," Fuller said. "They could face a requirement to forfeit previous payments and possible cost-share payments from the government to establish the CRP. But in Kansas, I'll do everything in my power to treat producers as gently as possible on penalties. If they blatantly do not comply, then we have to act, though." FSA officials are aware that many producers have extenuating circumstances that may not allow them to remove cattle from pasture immediately, due to weather or availability of help.

For now FSA officials have two fall back provisional use programs for producers looking to graze CRP. They allow livestock producers in federally declared drought and flood disaster counties to graze CRP acres as long as they forfeit 25 percent of their rental payments. But, that only affects a small percentage of producers who need feed now.

The temporary restraining order affects 24 million acres of CRP land that was opened to Critical Feed Use provisions by the USDA May 27. The opening of those acres was to occur after the primary nesting season had ended for grass-nesting birds. The acres were to provide feed and forage to alleviate the escalating price of feed for livestock producers.

Several states had begun opening up their CRP acres as of July 2, including Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Colorado was set to begin activity July 15. Texas, the largest state, has 583,000 acres available for sign-up in the program, followed by Colorado with 253,000 acres, Oklahoma with 210,000 acres, and New Mexico with 177,000 acres.

This order is for 10 days, with an argument on the motion for preliminary injunction set for July 17. The USDA had until July 13 to file a response to the preliminary injunction.

Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com.

7/21/08
4 Star NE\1-B

Date: 7/17/08

	Web hpj.com

Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2011.  High Plains Publishers, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com