Political Quotes

“I rise in support of my amendment, No. 3134. By providing haying and grazing flexibility, this amendment would offer commonsense and effective land management options for land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, or what we refer to as CRP. There are CRP contracts today that are typically 10 to 15 years in duration. As it stands, some CRP contracts only allow for vegetative cover to be removed once or twice during the life of the contract--a practice that is referred to as ``mid contract management.'' Even in areas that have experienced a drought or feed shortage, CRP mid contract management rules have required vegetative cover on CRP land to be destroyed--a practice I have never understood and one about which I get a lot of feedback from farmers across South Dakota who don't understand it either. The amendment before us today would allow haying and grazing under terms agreed to between the USDA and State technical committees, with safeguards in place that would protect the CRP cover when long-term droughts occur. Specifically, the amendment would allow haying and grazing on one-third of a producer's CRP contract acres on a rotating basis, which would be coupled with a reduction in the CRP rental payment. CRP is important for so many reasons. After more than 30 years, it remains the cornerstone of the conservation programs the USDA administers. In my opinion, we need more than the 24 million acres the current CRP acreage cap allows.…”