The USDA has announced an expansion of the Conservation Reserve Program. The Agriculture Department will now offer contracts specifically for grasslands tailored for small scale livestock grazing operations. South Dakota Farm Service Agency State CRP Coordinator Owen Fagerhaug says small operations with 100 or fewer head of grazing livestock or the equivalent can submit applications to enroll up to 200 acres of grasslands per farm.
He says under this new CRP contract, producers can work the land and not have to set it completely aside like the traditional CRP program.
Fagerhaug says to enroll in the conservation program, farmers can stop at their county Farm Service Agency office.
Applications must be made by December 16 of 2016 and offers selected will be enrolled in the CRP Grasslands program starting in October of 2017.
