09/20/06 Emergency CRP grazing

Farmers and ranchers in Idaho and 29 other states that are impacted by drought will get extensions for emergency livestock grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres. Farm Service Agency's John Johnson says the traditional deadline for emergency grazing on CRP acreage has been September 30th. JOHNSON "We're going to do this in three different tiers across the country with the northern tier of states having their grazing extended to October 20th, the central part of the country having their grazing extended through November 10th and then the lower third of the country having their emergency grazing extended through November 30th." Emergency haying on all CRP lands will end on September 30th. The Idaho grazing deadline falls under that first tier meaning that it ends on October 20th. Producers with CRP contracts need to get some paperwork completed before they move animals onto CRP land. JOHNSON "For farmers to participate in emergency haying and grazing they need to visit their county FSA office and work with NRCS to get a grazing plan developed and get a little bit of paperwork take care of at the county office then they can go forward and proceed." USDA also announced that CRP rental payments will be reduced by only 10 percent instead of the standard 25 percent on CRP lands that are grazed in 2006. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott