Statement On Conservation Reserve Program Critical Feed Use Program
Texans Send Letter To USDA
Say Loss Of Conservation Reserve Program Critical Feed Use Program Will Severely Disrupt Livestock Production
Congressman Mac Thornberry (TX-13) announced that he and other Members of the Texas Congressional Delegation have written to encourage the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift a judge's temporary restraining order against the Conservation Reserve Program Critical Feed Use Program.
"More than 1,000 applications representing more than 218,000 acres have already been granted to producers in our region," noted the Congressmen. "All of these decisions were based on a good-faith contract."
"Much of the land in our region is experiencing extremely dry conditions, and the threat of fire on the dry grasslands is very high and very real," said Thornberry. "The Critical Feed Use program afforded producers the ability to reduce the threat of fire through responsible haying and grazing and, therefore, be conscientious stewards of the land."
On Tuesday, July 8, a federal judge in Seattle stopped the emergency federal program that allows grazing and hay production on millions of acres of farmland nationwide that had been set aside for conservation.
The injunction ordered by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour could affect 24 million acres of conservation lands across the country, including grasslands in Texas.
Coughenour ordered the temporary restraining order after a suit was filed by the National Wildlife Federation and six affiliates over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision in May to allow grazing and hay production on land now protected under the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
The program, begun in 1985, pays farmers across the country not to plant fragile lands, and to return them to native grasses and vegetation.
The letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer was signed by Thornberry and Representatives Randy Neugebauer (TX-19) and K. Michael Conaway (TX-11).