WASHINGTON – The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) on Thursday approved of a U.S. District Court ruling allowing livestock producers to use 2.5 million acres of noncritical Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land for haying and grazing.
The decision was reportedly based largely on briefs filed by livestock groups such as the NPPC, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) in response to a lawsuit from the National Wildlife Federation’s lawsuit regarding the U.S. Department of Agricultures Critical Feed Use (CFU) initiative. The briefs pointed out the losses livestock producers have suffered due to recent spikes in grain prices and the need to rely on the initiative to avoid suffering irreparable harm to their business and possible loss of their farms from a lack of feed.