FSA chief calls for relaxing rules on conservation-reserve land to help young livestock producers build their herds

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez, Unsplash)

The federal Farm Service Agency is looking for ways to use Conservation Reserve Program land to help younger producers by putting marginal row-crop land into livestock production. FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux told Chris Clayton of Progressive Farmer, "We've got CRP land sitting all over the country. If we think about incentivizing the proper use of that instead of penalizing the regular use of it."

Erin Ogle, who works with the Southern Iowa Land Use Conversion Project in Taylor County, told Clayton, "There is a place for CRP, but producers also see the benefits of programs that would allow them to integrate livestock as well. There is a lot of CRP in Iowa, especially in southern Iowa." That’s where Ducheneaux recently advocated a change in federal law to help.

Ducheneaux told Clayton that Congress needs to stop the mindset of separating conservation and production: "Right now, policy dictates landowners face a 25% rental-payment penalty for CRP ground that is hayed or grazed unless the ground is in a county that has a D2 "severe drought" or higher designation by the U.S. Drought Monitor . . . That land is becoming more productive if we use it thoughtfully and it is a better reserve for the future if we use it thoughtfully."

As of July, USDA is accepting offers for more than 3.1 million acres from agricultural producers and private landowners through this year’s CRP Grassland Signup, the highest in history, its website says, along with providing some CRP highlights:

• Top states were Colorado (642,000 acres), South Dakota (nearly 425,000 acres) and Nebraska (nearly 422,000 acres).
• States with the highest increase in acres compared with last year include Arizona (141% increase), California (129%), and Utah (122%).