With drought intensifying in the northern Plains, the USDA is taking an additional step to help ranchers short of livestock forage. The owners of land idled in the Conservation Reserve have USDA approval to harvest hay from the set-aside land in counties in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana where drought conditions are rated as “severe” or worse.
“I’ve been fighting for months to make sure USDA opens up the lands for haying that they need,” said North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. “Our farmers and ranchers are tough – and have seen it all when it comes to weathering severe heat or cold, but…they rarely, if ever come toe-to-toe with droughts of this magnitude, and the time for emergency federal resources is well past due.”
Allowed during emergencies, haying ordinarily is prohibited on Conservation Reserve land; owners are paid an annual rent by USDA to hold fragile land out of production. “Similar to the authorization for emergency grazing announced (June 29), this authorization includes any county with any part of its border located within 150 miles of a county eligible for emergency haying of CRP based on the U.S. drought monitor,” said USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Haying will be permitted from July 16-Aug 30.
President Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union said haying may be a more valuable option for livestock producers than the previous USDA authorization to graze livestock on the Conservation Reserve. Large amounts of the reserve are not fenced nor do they have a source of water, he said.
Nearly half of North Dakota was listed in severe, or worse, drought in the weekly Drought Monitor. So was one-third of South Dakota and one-third of Montana.