The US government will allow some farmers to use protected natural areas to grow crops. This is part of efforts to mitigate the world food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the USDA reported on Thursday.
Producers with just one year left on their contracts under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which provides payments to keep land away from agricultural production, can request an early exit and plant crops like wheat instead, the USDA said in a statement.
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The company added that it must grant farmers’ early voluntary termination requests. If approved, the farmer can begin preparing the soil for planting after the peak breeding season and then harvest hay, graze and plant a fall seed before October 1, 2022.
The move comes as federal lawmakers asked the Biden administration to allow farmers to plant conserved acres this spring in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I am pleased that the USDA has responded to my call for American farmers to help solve the global food crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Allowing domestic producers to scale up their capacity to help people in need around the world is common sense,” Arkansas Senator John Boozman, one of the proponents of the measure, said in a tweet.
With information from Bloomberg and Reuters.