Sheridan County Opened for Both Emergency CRP Haying and Grazing

RUSHVILLE, NE July 13, 2012 — “Sheridan County has been released for emergency haying and grazing of eligible CRP acres due to the current drought conditions”, according to Sandy Orr, County FSA Executive Director. The CRP emergency release for 2012 is effective Monday, July 16th . Haying activities must be complete on August 31st and the bales removed from the fields by October 15th.

Grazing operations must be completed the earlier of: September 30th or when the required stubble height
has been reached by the grazing livestock. Procedure requires that the COC re-evaluate the drought
conditions monthly and if conditions no longer warrant the practice, emergency haying and grazing will
be stopped at that time.

“Due to the severe drought conditions being suffered, the National Office has lowered the payment
reduction that CRP contract owners will have to pay for utilizing the contract acres. For 2012 a 10%
reduction to their annual payment will be applied only on the acres that are actually hayed or grazed under
the emergency release provisions. Not all contract acres may be eligible for grazing due to the practice
that is being applied, so producers need to call the office and schedule a time to see what acres are eligible
for emergency grazing. Also because there are so many people coming into the office to release CRP
acres, producers need to be aware that it may take longer than 15 minutes to get it all done ”, stated Orr.

Producers can hay or graze their own CRP or allow other eligible livestock producers to hay or graze
the contract acres. However, contract owners and livestock owners must first request approval to graze
eligible acreage through the FSA office and obtain a modified conservation plan from the NRCS office to
include the program requirements.

The provisions of the emergency release state that if acres are being utilized by a third party, hay may not
be sold and pasture may not be subleased. Also, because the acres are being released under emergency
provisions, CRP contract owners are not allowed to charge third party users more money than what their
contract reduction is.

Interested producers need to contact the Sheridan County FSA Office at (308) 327-2489 extension 2
prior to taking any action toward haying or grazing of CRP acres. For more information or to make
an appointment to sign up, please contact your local FSA Office at (308) 327-2489 extension 2. More
information can also be obtained by visiting the website http://www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.