WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, in letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, today, urged the release of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage in Kansas for emergency grazing due to serious drought conditions that have persisted in the area for years.

“Producers in many areas of Kansas are suffering from a drought that has severely damaged both grazing and crop acreage, and the situation shows no sign of improving,” Senator Roberts said.

Senator Roberts noted the Kansas Farm Service Agency recommended 45 counties receive this designation due to prolonged and expanding drought including: Barber, Barton, Cheyenne, Clark, Comanche, Decatur, Edwards, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Kiowa, Lane, Lincoln, Logan, Meade, Morton, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Rawlins, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Scott, Seward, Sheridan, Sherman, Stanton, Stevens, Thomas, Trego, Wallace, and Wichita.

Senator Roberts said, “It is important that any decision regarding waiver of the 25 percent rental reduction for grazing CRP acreage be applied equally to every landowner who elects to allow grazing on their CRP acreage.”

Senator Roberts said that without the immediate release of this acreage, “Producers will be left with two choices: continue to graze and severely damage native pastures, or begin to liquidate cattle herds. Neither option is good for Kansas livestock producers. They need access to this acreage before such actions have to be taken.”

Senator Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.