Release No. 0235.96
                                      Tom Amontree (202) 720-4623
                                               TAMONTREE@USDA.GOV
                                      Bruce Merkle (202) 720-8206
                                                 BMERKLE@USDA.GOV

GLICKMAN ASSURES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DURING EMERGENCY HAYING OR GRAZING
   OF CRP ACREAGE

     WASHINGTON, May 6, 1996--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
announced provisions to maintain environmental protection on Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) acres released for emergency haying or grazing.  This
emergency measure was announced April 30 after President Clinton and Secretary
Glickman, along with other members of the Administration, met with
Congressional leaders.  The steps are designed to provide relief to the cattle
industry, which is suffering from low cattle prices, record high feed costs
and scarcity of available hay and forage.

      Glickman said if prospects for the 1996 feed grain crops deteriorate or
if forage and pasture conditions are poor this summer, a more rapid downsizing
in livestock would occur. A large cattle liquidation would result in low beef
prices initially, but over the long run, would mean lower inventories as
breeding stocks would be reduced resulting in higher beef prices.

     "The availability of CRP acreage for haying and grazing will provide
supplemental pasture and forage for livestock producers and relieve some of
the pressure they are now facing," Glickman said.  

     "Emergency CRP grazing provisions are effective immediately," Glickman
said.  "But, to protect nesting wildlife, emergency haying may not begin until
July 1 or July 15, depending on local conditions.  Land preparation, seeding,
or fertilization may not begin before those dates.  CRP acreage may be hayed
or grazed, but not both.  The emergency haying and grazing provisions will
extend through September 30." 

     To ensure adequate wildlife habitat, at least 25 percent of each field
or contiguous field hayed or grazed must be left untouched for wildlife cover
or grazed at 75 percent of the stocking rate.  A haying or grazing plan,
approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, is required to protect
the cover and resource from overgrazing or overhaying.

     Benefits to the CRP land of limited haying and grazing include  removing
old, dying grass and other plants, which can reduce the risk of wildfires. 
Removing this older vegetation can also allow new growth, which might
otherwise be smothered.  New growth can increase the wildlife value of CRP
land.  Grazing, and especially haying, harvests weed species by reducing the
potential for them to go to seed, or otherwise reproduce, to become a problem
on CRP land or to infest adjoining land.     

     Also, CRP participants are responsible for reestablishing CRP cover at
their own expense if the cover fails as a result of damage from haying or
grazing.  Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices are being instructed to
make spot checks of at least 25 percent of the contracts approved for
emergency haying or grazing to assure that CRP participants are complying with
applicable requirements."

     Glickman said that not all CRP acreage is eligible for emergency haying
or grazing and these provisions will not apply to land on which the following
conservation practices have been established: land devoted to useful life
easements; field windbreaks; grass waterways; shallow water areas; filter
strips; bottom land timber on wetlands; acreage enrolled under the wetland
eligibility criteria during signup periods eight and nine; shelter belts; and
riparian areas, i.e., land within an average of 100 feet of a stream or other
permanent water body.

     Glickman said producers must get approval from the local FSA office
before haying or grazing CRP acreage.  These local offices have been given
authority to approve such requests without further referral to either the
State FSA office or to Washington. Producers who do not get this approval in
advance or fail to follow guidelines will be subject to noncompliance
provisions of the CRP program.
     
     The cost to a producer for utilizing this emergency authority will be 25
percent of the annual rental payment applicable to the CRP acreage hayed, or 5
percent per month, not to exceed a total of 25 percent, of the annual rental
payment applicable to the CRP acreage grazed.     

     Producers should contact their local Farm Service Agency office for
further information.

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