Grazing waivers are sought as drought lingers

? Rep. Jerry Moran, in response to an ongoing drought in western Kansas, has joined the ranks of those asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release Conservation Reserve Program acres for emergency haying and grazing.

Moran, R-Kan., asked the USDA on Friday for an immediate release of the CRP acreage.

About 40 counties virtually all of them in western Kansas have also filed reports asking the Farm Service Administration for release.

Those requests have been forwarded to the Washington, D.C., which has asked for additional information.

No CRP acres have been released for haying and grazing, but Dennis Gaschler, a program specialist with the FSA state office in Manhattan, said action appears imminent.

Conditions range from “abnormally dry” in the central part of the state to an “extreme” drought in far west-central Kansas.