Federal judge blocks USDA from opening more conservation-reserve land to haying, grazing

A federal judge issued a permanent injunction today preventing the Department of Agriculture from releasing more acreage in the Conservation Reserve Program for haying and grazing, reports Lisa Keefe of MeatingPlace.com. "USDA had opened the acres in an attempt to help ranchers cope with high feed prices and possible grain shortages," she notes.

District Judge John C. Coughenour of Seattle "made sweeping exceptions to his prohibition, but then imposed terms that would make actually using USDA's program economically unattractive," Keefe reports, and gives details. But the American Farm Bureau Federation said the decision was a victory because "The judge issued a narrow permanent injunction to allow those producers with approved CRP contracts to continue operations through the program’s original Nov. 10 deadline. Farmers and ranchers who sent applications but have not received approvals will have their applications processed. If approved, those producers may hay until Sept. 30 or graze until Oct. 15."

"Both sides of the battle seem to be happy with the results of the court case," reports Dien Judge of the Iowa Independent. The order was sought by the National Wildlife Federation, which said environmental issues in the matter were not adequately researched. Last week, the judge gave the two sides several days to reach a compromise, and when that didn't happen, he issued the injunction, which said USDA "violated the National Environmental Policy Act . . . arbitrarily, capriciously, and unreasonably" when it decided that opening the conservation-reserve land would have no environmental consequences.