08/29/06 Emergency CRP grazing

Because of wildfires this summer there will be emergency grazing on CRP land in 13 Idaho counties. Governor Jim Risch and the state's congressional delegation made the request to help livestock producers following the loss of more than 400 thousand acres of grazing land to wildfires. The 13 Idaho counties covered by the emergency authorization are: Bingham, Blaine, Bonneville, Clark, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Idaho, Lincoln, Nez Perce, Oneida, Payette, and Power. Idaho Farm Service Agency Director Wayne Hammon says before producers move any animals they need to contact their FSA county office and develop a plan. HAMMON "We're allowed to authorize producers to put cattle on CRP ground for up to 60 days without any penalties. This is a special one time emergency authorization because of all of the thousands of acres we've lost to wildfire this year." Hammon says producers who move cows before they're given permission are in violation of their CRP agreement and penalties then come into play. HAMMON "What we'll do is we'll sit down and talk to them about how many cows they want to move and figure out the carrying capacity of CRP. We have to modify their conservation plan to allow for grazing and you know, fill in all the boxes on the forms for them." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott