Washington, D.C. —
Senator John Thune announced today that after discussions with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Campbell County is now eligible for certain Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) emergency haying and grazing provisions every other county in South Dakota was approved for earlier this year.
"The USDA made a mistake in its calculation of the mileage between the closest points of Fall River and Campbell Counties. According to USDA's measurements, Campbell County was the only South Dakota County outside the 210 mile radius from the nearest county approved for emergency CRP haying or grazing. "Several Campbell County producers requested that I have USDA recalculate this measurement, which I was pleased to do," said Thune. "USDA headquarters told my staff twice that its measurement was correct," he went on to say. "It wasn't until we requested an official measurement from the EROS data center and were informed the distance was 192 miles that USDA finally admitted its distance calculation was in error."
This approval is important to Campbell County livestock producers and those with land enrolled in the CRP. Producers haying and grazing CRP-enrolled land in non-approved emergency haying counties within the 210 mile radius (which now includes Campbell County) will be assessed a 10 percent CRP rental payment reduction, rather than the 25 percent reduction rate applied before this designation was changed.
CRP participants who wish to apply for emergency haying and grazing provisions should contact the county FSA office for more information and specific program rules.
"The USDA made a mistake in its calculation of the mileage between the closest points of Fall River and Campbell Counties. According to USDA's measurements, Campbell County was the only South Dakota County outside the 210 mile radius from the nearest county approved for emergency CRP haying or grazing. "Several Campbell County producers requested that I have USDA recalculate this measurement, which I was pleased to do," said Thune. "USDA headquarters told my staff twice that its measurement was correct," he went on to say. "It wasn't until we requested an official measurement from the EROS data center and were informed the distance was 192 miles that USDA finally admitted its distance calculation was in error."
This approval is important to Campbell County livestock producers and those with land enrolled in the CRP. Producers haying and grazing CRP-enrolled land in non-approved emergency haying counties within the 210 mile radius (which now includes Campbell County) will be assessed a 10 percent CRP rental payment reduction, rather than the 25 percent reduction rate applied before this designation was changed.
CRP participants who wish to apply for emergency haying and grazing provisions should contact the county FSA office for more information and specific program rules.