By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor

COVID-19 has majorly affected livestock owners and ranchers across the U.S. and sent livestock prices plummeting.

Many ranchers are holding their cattle in hopes of better prices, but the hot, dry weather may force sales at less than ideal prices if ranches run out of sufficient forage.

But the Pandemic Authority Suitable to Utilize Reserve Easements (PASTURE) Act, introduced in early June by U.S. Reps. Roger Marshall and Angie Craig, aims to help ranchers and cattle during the pandemic.

The bill would amend the Food Security Act of 1985 by giving the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture the authority to allow emergency access to acres enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for grazing and haying.

Generally, haying and grazing of CRP acreage is authorized only under certain conditions that will improve the quality and performance of CRP cover, which the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) refers to as “managed haying and grazing authority.”

Under current emergency haying and grazing authority, CRP acres may not be hayed or grazed unless emergency situations arise that include: a 40 percent or greater loss in normal hay and pasture production has been documented, as well as either a drought of 40 percent or greater loss of precipitation for the four most recent months; or, in the case of excessive moisture conditions, an average of 140 percent or greater increase in normal precipitation during the four most recent months.

Normally, there is an emergency request made by a county Farm Service Agency (FSA) committee, which then must be approved at the state and national FSA offices before emergency grazing and haying can occur.

The PASTURE Act was introduced following a letter from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and 35 other agricultural organizations asking Congress to grant USDA additional emergency haying and grazing authority for pandemics.

In its letter to Congress, NCBA said there is concern livestock owners will face a forage shortage, because they’re holding cattle longer than usual as the industry works through the backlog of disruptions created by processing plant shutdowns and slowdowns during the spring at the height of the pandemic.

Livestock owners were among the first to feel the impacts of COVID-19 and continue to face major hurdles, but the PASTURE Act would provide another avenue of relief for ranchers, Marshall said.

“I will continue to do everything I can to help our farm and ranch families overcome the devastating impacts of the coronavirus, so they can continue to produce the highest quality, safest and most affordable food, fiber and fuel in the world,” he said.

The bipartisan legislation brings commonsense solutions to farm and ranch families in a time of great need, Craig added.

“By adding pandemics to CRP emergency flexibility, we are modernizing conservation policy to address the complex emergencies facing our farmers and ranchers. I will always support bipartisan, commonsense solutions to help our family farmers and livestock producers in their times of need,” she said in a statement.

In the U.S. Senate, Sens. John Thune (R, S.D.) and Tina Smith (D, Minn.) introduced companion legislation to the PASTURE Act.

“We are experiencing a global health pandemic, and farmers and ranchers are feeling the economic impact,” Thune said. “Our bill is straightforward: Allowing emergency haying and grazing would help producers ensure adequate forage for the livestock they are having to keep longer than expected due to low prices and meat processing capacity shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”