Some conservation reserves are likely to be opened soon to grazing
cattle.
United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he’s going to open
some conservation reserves for drought-stricken farmers because “llvestock
operators in particular are impacted because what they expected to have their
livestock graze on is not there or of sufficient quantity or quality as
anticipated.
“The costs to replace it with feed obviously are going to be
substantially higher, so some folks are starting the process of liquidating
their herds,” Vilsack explained.
“They know at this point in time there is nothing else that can be done
beyond the steps we have taken to open up more haying and grazing areas.
“The sad reality is that Congress needs to do its work to get a
disaster program in place to provide assistance to these producers,” he said.
He said the programs cannot be restarted by simply extending the 2008
farm bill and that their costs must be balanced in the broader context of a new
farm bill.
He said nothing about reducing the mandatory percentage of ethanol that
must be included in gasoline. Virtually all of the ethanol comes from corn
distilleries which buy about 40 per cent of U.S. corn crops.
