Wichita ? The Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency has approved more Kansas counties for emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program acreage.

The agency says haying on CRP ground can now be done in Elk, Ellsworth, Greenwood, Scott, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson counties.

Grazing on CRP acreage also has been approved for Butler, Chase, Chatauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Greely, Labette, Lyon, Montgomery, Morris, Neosho and Sedgwick counties.

Adrian Polansky, the state executive director of the Farm Service Agency, says the agency is extremely concerned about how the intensifying and expanding drought conditions are affecting livestock producers.

He says the CRP haying and grazing options help mitigate drought losses and rising feed costs for livestock producers.