Governor Tim Pawlenty today directed Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson to create a Minnesota Agricultural Drought Advisory Committee that will provide input as officials determine the extent of drought damage to the state’s agriculture sector and the need for help in recovering from it.

The Governor also announced that the state has teamed up the University of Minnesota to offer a “Hay List” website that matches up farmers needing increasingly rare forage with those who have forage to sell or donate. The Hay List can be accessed at http://www.haylist.umn.edu. There is also a link to the site on the Department of Agriculture homepage at http://www.mda.state.mn.us.

The Agricultural Drought Advisory Committee will include representatives from across the state’s agriculture community, including commodity and farm groups, as well as farm lenders and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). Using input from the committee, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) will prepare ongoing reports for the Governor detailing the extent of the drought’s impact on crops, livestock and the economy. The group also will provide MDA input on potential assistance state and federal programs.

“Minnesota is experiencing our worst drought in nearly 20 years, and our farmers have been especially hard hit,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Crop and animal agriculture are extremely important parts of Minnesota’s strong and diverse economy. We’ll continue to work hard to help our farmers make it through this difficult period.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor rates much of Minnesota in the category of severe or extreme drought. According to the National Agriculture Statistics Service, 85 percent of the state has topsoil moisture rated short or very short. Much of the state’s prime farm land – especially northwest and central Minnesota – has not seen significant rainfall for months.

Last week, Governor Pawlenty visited drought-stricken areas of northwestern Minnesota. He met with dozens of concerned farmers and saw firsthand the effects of the drought on wheat, soybeans and other crops. While the FSA is currently collecting county-by-county crop and forage loss estimates, it is clear that a significant portion of Minnesota is already affected by drought conditions and the affected area is likely to expand if dry conditions continue as expected.

County disaster assessment reports are due to the Farm Service Agency today and the USDA State Emergency Board is meeting on August 7 to make a recommendation to the Governor regarding submission of an agricultural disaster declaration request to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Minnesota’s livestock producers also face a crisis due to a sharp drop in production of forage for feeding their cattle. More than half the state’s pasture is rated “poor” or “very poor,” and the situation is especially grim in northwestern counties. Prolonged shortages of hay and pasture forage may drive more farmers out of business.

To address this urgent forage issue, FSA announced last Friday that it will allow producers in 16 northwestern Minnesota counties to use their Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage for haying and grazing. Interested producers must receive approval from their local county FSA staff prior to haying or grazing the CRP acres. The 16 counties include Kittson, Roseau, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake, Polk, Clearwater, Beltrami, Mahnomen, Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Chisago, Isanti and the western half of Koochiching.

Governor Pawlenty recently sent a letter to congressional leaders to make them aware of the drought situation in Minnesota and to alert them that an agricultural disaster declaration request will be forthcoming.

Regarding possible state assistance, Commissioner Hugoson said it may come in the form of retooling existing programs or new programs proposed to the state legislature for the 2007 session.

“We’re going to look at all available options for getting assistance to farmers who are coping with this drought,” Commissioner Hugoson said. “Even if federal disaster assistance passes Congress this year, there may still be need for state assistance at some point. Existing programs may help us meet some of the immediate need, but we may also need to consider the possibility of legislative action next session.”

Click here to download Governor Pawlenty's Drought Conditions podcast.