89 Illinois counties will be eligible for emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program acres from Aug. 2 to Sept. 30.
Three developments have led to that emergency response:
- A majority of the state has reached the D2 severe drought level on the U.S. Drought Monitor for one week.
- D2 drought conditions lie outside of the primary bird nesting season, from April 15 through Aug. 1.
- Authorized counties have a documented 40% loss of forage production, which triggers this release according to the 2018 Farm Bill.
The counties eligible include:
Adams, Alexander, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clinton, Coles, Cook, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, DeKalb, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Effingham, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Lake, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Massac, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Rock Island, St. Clair, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Warren, Washington, Whiteside, Will, Williamson, Winnebago and Woodford.
For more information, contact your County’s FSA office.