Sheridan County has joined Scotts Bluff and parts of Sioux and Dawes counties in gaining approval for emergency haying and grazing of grassland in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

Brian Wolford, state executive director of the Nebraska Farm Service Agency, said that to qualify, counties must be in an extreme drought or worse or document a 40 percent loss of moisture, forage and pasture from normal for the four previous months.

Producers who want to cut hay from their CRP acres or put animals on it must submit applications to their local FSA offices, he said, and accept a 10 percent in their CRP payments.

Under CRP, farmers are paid to plant vegetative covers on the land and to not harvest. That helps protect topsoil from erosion and contributes to wildlife preservation.

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