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Wisconsin opens Farmland Preservation and CREP acreage
Some farmers in the 23 Wisconsin counties designated as drought disaster areas, and the 8 counties bordering them, may be released temporarily from complying with conservation standards. Farmers in four of those counties may also be permitted to hay and graze on lands pulled out of production for conservation.
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Ben Brancel announced that farmers participating in the Farmland Preservation program in those 31 counties can work with their county land conservation offices to harvest corn early for silage and remove other crop residues this year, to help ease drought-related feed shortages.
The 31 counties are Adams, Calumet, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Fond du lac, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Lafayette, Marquette, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Vernon, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waushara, Winnebago and Wood.
In Dane, Green, Iowa and Lafayette counties, Brancel is also encouraging county conservation departments to work with farmers with acreage in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program(CREP)to expedite requests to local Farm Service Agency offices to allow haying and grazing on that acreage
Farmers must contact their county land conservation offices before taking corn or crop residues off lands in Farmland Preservation. Farmers in those counties who have land in CREP must contact their county conservationists and their local USDA Farm Service Agency offices before they may hay or graze that acreage. In addition, landowners with CREP perpetual easements will also need to get written authorization from DATCP prior to performing these activities.
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