A temporary injunction blocking the nationwide release of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for haying and grazing remains in effect following a court hearing Thursday. But a resolution to the battle may come next week.U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour did not make the temporary injunction permanent, as some had expected, but instead he ordered the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to work out a compromise. Both sides have been given until next Tuesday to resolve their differences and report back to the court. The Seattle Times reported Thursday that Coughenour will issue an order by the end of next week to resolve the dispute.

Thursday’s hearing in Seattle involved a lawsuit filed by the National Wildlife Federation. The suit claimed the USDA failed to complete the proper environmental impact studies before it announced a plan to release CRP acres nationwide for haying and grazing under the Critical Feed Use program. The USDA announced in May that it would allow a Critical Feed Use release of all CRP acres for haying and grazing after the primary nesting season for birds is completed. In Iowa, that release date falls on Aug. 2.

Nationwide, the USDA’s plan is intended to bring relief to livestock producers who have been suffering under high costs of feed and forage caused by high demand and poor weather conditions. An estimated 18 million tons of hay would be made available through the Critical Feed Use release of CRP acres.

Because of the devastating floods earlier this year, much of Iowa’s CRP acreage has already been released for grazing only through a different emergency program. The court injunction does not block the opening of CRP acres for grazing in presidentially declared disaster areas, a separate early release of CRP acres that was announced by the USDA last week. That release affected 97 of Iowa’s 99 counties, allowing emergency livestock grazing on CRP acres but not allowing the acres to be harvested for hay.

Although most of Iowa’s CRP acres are already available for grazing, many livestock producers would still like to see the nationwide CRP release go forward so that more feed in the marketplace could help bring down prices.

Iowa has approximately 1.8 million acres of land enrolled in the CRP program. When enrolled in the program, landowners sign 10- to 15-year contracts with the USDA and agree to leave the acres out of production. The farmers receive a payment from the government, and the program protects environmentally sensitive land and provides wildlife habitat. But CRP acres can be opened up for production when deemed necessary by the USDA.

In response to the court’s decision Thursday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said in a statement that he is hopeful that the court’s decision today will “lead to an agreement that mitigates environmental harms of any future announcements by USDA.”

Iowa Wildlife Federation

The National Wildlife Federation joined with its state-affiliate organizations from six states to file the lawsuit. State affiliates from Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Washington, Louisiana and Indiana were involved in the lawsuit, but Iowa’s affiliate — the Iowa Wildlife Federation — was not involved.

In a telephone interview Thursday with Iowa Independent, Iowa Wildlife Federation president Joe Wilkinson didn’t comment directly about the possible areas of compromise that the organization may seek. But Wilkinson said that he fully understands the situation faced by Iowa livestock producers and supports the limited release of CRP acres in disaster areas. “The lawsuit only challenges the broader release of nearly 24 million acres nationwide without any payment reduction,” said Wilkinson. “The suit did not challenge the emergency haying and grazing in the actual states or counties. From what I know of the suit, that makes sense to me.”

“It is truly an emergency here in Iowa,” said Wilkinson. “I’m sitting in between the two rivers that flooded the worst. As president of the Iowa Wildlife Federation, I don’t disagree with the release of CRP in what are truly emergency acres — which would be practically every county in Iowa.”

Farm Bureau, Cattlemen, Pork Producers

Three major agricultural organizations have joined together to file an amicus brief in the court case, stressing the “severe economic hardship” that the court injunction has placed on farmers and ranchers. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council all joined together to file the brief, which details the stories of farmers who have already invested money and time preparing to take advantage of the released CRP acres.

“More than 4,000 livestock producers relied on USDA’s announcement about the new program and have already begun using their precious financial resources to prepare the land for haying and grazing. It’s important for the court to hear from farmers and ranchers about the harmful effects of this injunction, both since July 8 when the injunction was issued and going forward,” said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman in a statement.