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Tuesday, August 7, 2007
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Ag secretary pledges quick work on drought disaster declaration
Six area counties are among the 25 Minnesota counties where Gov. Tim Pawlenty has asked for a federal agriculture disaster designation. The governor said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns told Pawlenty Monday he has directed his staff to work expeditiously on the issue with a decision possibly coming as quickly as Tuesday.
Pawlenty said the area counties identified by the governor as drought-stricken include Crow Wing, Aitkin, Cass, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Todd and Wadena.
A federal disaster declaration would provide access to low-interest loans to affected farmers and ranchers.
Dry July
DNR precipitation totals confirmed what the parched lawns and drooping flowers already told Brainerd area residents: It's been a dry summer.
Rainfall in July was 1.83 inches at the automated station at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport compared to the 10-year average in July of 4.38 inches. DNR officials said rainfall amounts are highly variable and that the gauge at the DNR office in Brainerd recorded only 1.47 inches of rain in July.
Year-to-date rainfall is 14.44 inches compared to an average of 19.11 inches.
July's high temperature was 95 degrees on July 7 and the low was 41 degrees on July 13.
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Pawlenty toured the rural Little Falls farm of Ron Hourscht last week and saw effects of the stress that two years of drought conditions have caused corn and alfalfa at Hourscht's farm.
The other counties where Pawlenty has sought disaster relief are Anoka, Benton, Brown, Carlton, Cook, Douglas, Hennepin, Hubbard, Itasca, Kanabec, Lake, Pipestone, Pope, Roseau, St. Louis, Sherburne, Swift and Wright.
The governor asked the agriculture secretary to declare Roseau County as an agricultural disaster area because of winter grass kill and early excessive rains. The remainder were singled out because of drought conditions.
A declaration also would allow affected farmers access to the low-interest Emergency Loan Program administered by the Farm Service Agency.
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said in a statement he was concerned with hay and forage losses leading to hay shortages and potential herd liquidation.
The Minnesota Rural Finance Authority will offer two loan programs that provide low-cost financing to farmers who are affected by the drought. Those programs are the Disaster Assistance Loan Program and the Loan Restructuring Program. The disaster program helps finance watering and irrigation systems. The Disaster Assistance Loan Program helps producers maintain good credit ratings despite cash flow difficulties caused by the drought.
The University of Minnesota Extension Services will staff the Farm Information Line at (800) 232-9077 to help farmers with questions.
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