NAFB – More than 1,000 counties are eligible for emergency Conservation Reserve Program haying and grazing.

An American Farm Bureau Federation Market Intel analysis shows the most recently published list of counties with permitted haying and grazing on CRP land includes 1,021 counties, or 32 percent of counties. Primarily located in the West, 860 of those counties have been designated in 2021. In June alone, emergency haying and grazing on CRP acres was authorized in 196 counties. Between June 17 and June 24, 39 counties were added to the designation list, an increase of four percent in one week. Every week, USDA updates the map of counties eligible for emergency haying and/or grazing based on the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Counties are approved for emergency haying and grazing when they are designated as level “D2 Drought – Severe” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The latest report shows 35 percent of the U.S. in D2 or worse drought, with 61 percent of the continental U.S. in some form of drought.