Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Julia A. Wickard today announced that 22 counties are authorized for emergency grazing of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The Indiana State FSA Office reviewed the provisions for the emergency haying and grazing and made a number of recommendations to the national office. These recommendations were based on local FSA County Committee and concurrence of Indiana Conservation and Agricultural Partners. At the present time haying of CRP is not authorized until the end of the primary nesting date which is either July 16th or August 2nd depending on the age of the CRP contract.
The counties approved for CRP emergency grazing are:
| Allen | Huntington | Orange |
| Brown | Knox | Owen |
| Cass | Kosciusko | Pike |
| Daviess | LaGrange | Posey |
| Decatur | Lawrence | Sullivan |
| Dubois | Martin | Wabash |
| Fulton | Monroe | |
| Gibson | Noble |
“It is imperative eligible producers who are interested in emergency grazing of CRP request written approval from the local FSA office before grazing the acreage,” said Wickard. “Producers must also obtain a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that outlines permitted grazing practices. There will be a 10 percent annual payment reduction for CRP acres used for grazing under these emergency provisions, which was reduced from 25 percent recently by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.”
Source: Indiana FSA