WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2012—As part of continuing steps by the Obama Administration to get assistance to producers impacted by the drought, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today designated 172 additional counties in 15 states as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and heat, making all qualified farm operators in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans. To date, USDA has designated 1,792 counties as disaster areas—1,670 due to drought.
Earlier this week, President Obama and Secretary Vilsack traveled to Iowa to announce USDA's intent to purchase up to $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken, and catfish for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks, which will help relieve pressure on American livestock producers and bring the nation's meat supply in line with demand.
"USDA is committed to using its resources wherever possible to help the farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and communities being impacted by the drought," said Vilsack. "In the past month, we have streamlined the disaster designation process, reduced interest rates on emergency loans, and provided flexibility within our conservation programs to support struggling producers. In the weeks ahead, the President and I will continue to take swift action to help America's farmers and ranchers through this difficult time."
Vilsack also announced today the availability of up to $5 million in grants to evaluate and demonstrate agricultural practices that help farmers and ranchers adapt to drought. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking applications for Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to help producers build additional resiliency into their production systems. NRCS is offering the grants to partnering entities to evaluate innovative, field-based conservation technologies and approaches. These technologies and/or approaches should lead to improvements such as enhancing the water-holding capacity in soils and installing drought-tolerant grazing systems, which will help farms and ranches become more resilient to drought. Visit www.nrcs.usda.gov for more information.
Additionally, in response to a request from five National Organic Program (NOP) certifying agents, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced that USDA will grant a temporary variance from NOP's pasture practice standards for organic ruminant livestock producers (Sections 205.237(c) and 205.240 of the USDA organic regulations) in 16 states in 2012. The following restrictions apply: this temporary variance applies to non-irrigated pasture only; producers must supply at least 15 percent of their dry matter intake (on average) from certified organic pasture; this temporary variance applies to the 2012 calendar year only; and this temporary variance covers only counties that have been declared as primary natural disaster areas by the Secretary of Agriculture in 2012. Granting a temporary variance for 2012 from the pasture practice standards is necessary in order to allow organic ruminant livestock producers to continue to be compliant with the program regulations after the severe drought ends and pasture forage becomes available. Temporary variance requests that are outside the scope of this variance will be considered on a case by case basis.
Last week, President Obama convened his White House Rural Council to review Executive Branch response actions and to develop additional policy initiatives to assist drought-stricken Americans. Following the meeting, the White House announced a number of new measures the Administration is taking. The President stressed the need for the entire Administration to continue to look at further steps it can take to ease the pain of this historic drought.
Within the last month, USDA has opened the Conservation Reserve Program to emergency haying and grazing, lowered the borrower interest rate for emergency loans, and worked with crop insurance companies to provide flexibility to farmers. USDA has also announced:
- Authorized $16 million in existing funds from its Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to target states experiencing exceptional and extreme drought.
- Initiated transfer of $14 million in unobligated program funds into the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to help farmers and ranchers rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and for carrying out emergency water conservation measures in periods of severe drought.
- Authorized haying and grazing of Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) easement areas in drought-affected areas where haying and grazing is consistent with conservation of wildlife habitat and wetlands.
- Lowered the reduction in the annual rental payment to producers on CRP acres used for emergency haying or grazing from 25 percent to 10 percent in 2012.
- Simplified the Secretarial disaster designation process and reduced the time it takes to designate counties affected by disasters by 40 percent.
The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that 63 percent of the nation's hay acreage is in an area experiencing drought, while approximately 73 percent of the nation's cattle acreage is in an area experiencing drought. Approximately 87 percent of the U.S. corn is within an area experiencing drought, down from a peak of 89 percent on July 24, and 85 percent of the U.S. soybeans are in a drought area, down from a high of 88 percent on July 24. On Aug. 10, USDA reduced the estimate for the 2012 U.S. corn crop to 123.4 bushels per acre, down 23.8 bushels from 2011. However, record corn plantings in 2012 have put the crop in position to be eighth largest in history. In 1988, when U.S. farmers were impacted by another serious drought, total production was 4.9 billion bushels. Today, total production is forecast at 10.8 billion bushels.
Visit www.usda.gov/drought for the latest information regarding USDA's drought response and assistance.
The Obama Administration, with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack's leadership, has worked tirelessly to strengthen rural America, maintain a strong farm safety net, and create opportunities for America's farmers and ranchers. U.S. agriculture is currently experiencing one of its most productive periods in American history thanks to the productivity, resiliency, and resourcefulness of our producers. A strong farm safety net is important to sustain the success of American agriculture. USDA's crop insurance program currently insures 264 million acres, 1.14 million policies, and $110 billion worth of liability on about 500,000 farms. In response to tighter financial markets, USDA has expanded the availability of farm credit, helping struggling farmers refinance loans. In the past 3 years, USDA provided 103,000 loans to family farmers totaling $14.6 billion. Over 50 percent of the loans went to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
Primary counties and corresponding states designated as disaster areas today for drought and other reasons:
Alabama [drought]
Calhoun
Arkansas [drought]
Chicot
Desha
Drew
Colorado [other]
Weld
Illinois [drought]
Bureau
Cook
De Kalb
Du Page
Grundy
Henry
Kane
Kankakee
Kendall
Knox
Mercer
Putnam
Stark
Will
Indiana [drought]
Adams
Benton
Dearborn
Decatur
Fayette
Franklin
Jennings
Ripley
Starke
Union
Washington
Wayne
Iowa [drought]
Adair
Adams
Audubon
Buena Vista
Calhoun
Carroll
Cass
Cerro
Cherokee
Clay
Crawford
Dallas
Floyd
Franklin
Fremont
Gordo
Greene
Guthrie
Hancock
Harrison
Humboldt
Ida
Louisa
Mills
Monona
Montgomery
O'Brien
Osceola
Page
Pocahontas
Pottawattamie Sac
Shelby
Washington
Webster
Wright
Kentucky [drought]
Adair
Allen
Anderson
Barren
Bath
Boone
Bourbon
Boyd
Bracken
Bullitt
Campbell
Carroll
Carter
Clark
Clinton
Cumberland
Edmonson
Elliott
Estill
Fayette
Fleming
Floyd
Franklin
Gallatin
Garrard
Grant
Green
Greenup
Harrison
Hart
Jackson
Jefferson
Jessamine
Johnson
Kenton
Laurel
Lawrence
Lewis
Lincoln
Madison
Magoffin
Marion
Mason
Menifee
Metcalfe
Montgomery
Nelson
Nicholas
Owen
Pendleton
Pike
Powell
Pulaski
Robertson
Rockcastle
Rowan
Russell
Scott
Shelby
Simpson
Spencer
Taylor
Trimble
Warren
Washington
Wayne
Wolfe
Woodford
Kansas [drought]
Nemaha
Louisiana [drought]
Morehouse
Richland
Union
West Carroll
Minnesota [drought]
Nobles
Mississippi [drought]
Quitman
Sunflower
Tallahatchie
Yalobusha
Nebraska [drought]
Cass
Douglas
Fillmore
Lancaster
Otoe
Saline
Sarpy
Seward
Washington
Ohio [drought]
Butler
Defiance
Fulton
Hamilton
Henry
Paulding
Preble
Putnam
Van Wert
Oklahoma [drought]
Murray
Pontotoc
Tennessee [drought]
Madison
Wyoming [drought and other]
Big Horn
Campbell
Converse
Fremont
Goshen
Johnson
Natrona
Park
Platte
Sheridan
Sublette
Washakie
Weston
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