Participants of the Conservation Reserve Program Can Use Routine Grazing and Managed Harvesting Starting August 2nd
Thursday, July 25th, 2019 -- 8:53 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -The director of the Wisconsin Farm Service Agency is notifying participants of the Conservation Reserve Program that they can use routine grazing and managed harvesting beginning August 2.Sandy Chalmers says producers must request FSA county office approval before starting any haying and grazing activities. The request must include a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service with haying and grazing provisions. USDA is providing flexibility to producers who are struggling through one of the most difficult planting seasons in years. Producers can now harvest or graze cover crops planted on prevented planting acres beginning September 1, and maintain their eligibility for a full 2019 prevented planting indemnity. The harvest date was moved to help producers who are facing a shortage of forage in the fall. In Wisconsin, the state's FSA committee has authorized CRP routine grazing one out of every three years. Managed harvesting for hay is also limited to no more than one in three years in Wisconsin.
CRP acres must be considered fully established before haying or grazing can be authorized. In addition, haying or grazing CRP acres is not authorized during the primary nesting season. For Wisconsin the primary nesting season is May 15 through August 1. Producers must be approved before haying or grazing the acreage. For routine grazing, the authorization expires September 30 and all livestock must be removed by September 30, 2019. CRP participants must report the number of acres grazed to FSA by no later than October 10, 2019.
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