Additional USDA Measures to Assist Drought-affected Producers

Additional USDA Measures to Assist Drought-affected Producers

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

USDA has announced additional measures of flexibility in their major conservation programs in order to further assist livestock producers as the most wide-spread drought in seven decades intensifies in the U.S.

According to a recent USDA report, as of mid-July 62 percent of farms in the U.S. were experiencing drought. About 29 percent of farms were in counties where most of the land is under moderate drought; 24 percent of farms were experiencing severe drought; and 9 percent were experiencing extreme or exceptional drought. 

Most of Pacific Northwest is not experiencing the intense drought of much of the mid-west and south plains, however some southern Oregon and Idaho counties are experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack shares additional measures to expand those CRP acres to be used for haying or grazing under emergency conditions.?
Vilsack: “We will also authorize FSA to allow producers to sell harvested hay harvested through the emergency haying only for this year. This will be something that is not ordinary for us to do but given the breath and severity of this situation, it may very well be a opportunity for folks to provide help and assistance to their neighbors that are suffering.”

With last September’s expiration of the Livestock Indemnity Program and the Livestock Forage Program, both part of the 2008 Farm Bill, -- livestock producers are without disaster coverage currently. The House version of the Farm Bill would reinstate those provisions.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.