~ Damage assessments may lead to disaster declaration and other assistance ~

Little Falls, Minnesota – With a significant portion of Minnesota experiencing “severe” drought for the second year in a row, Governor Tim Pawlenty today visited a farm in Morrison County to view the impact of the dry conditions on crops and livestock. State and federal officials joined the Governor at the Ron Hourscht Farm just west of Little Falls.

Governor Pawlenty announced that he will promptly request an agricultural disaster declaration for any county that meets the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s threshold of more than a 30 percent crop loss. Last week, the Governor requested USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) to begin a formal damage assessment of drought impacted counties as the first step toward a possible federal disaster declaration. The USDA State Emergency Board is meeting on Thursday, August 2 to make a recommendation to the Governor following its review of damage reports.

The Governor also said that he will urge Congress to allow farmers to claim losses from crop year 2007 as part of the recently passed agricultural disaster assistance package that currently allows for assistance for the 2005 or 2006 crop year.

“Minnesota farmers are among the best in the world at what they do, but they can’t make it rain,” Governor Pawlenty said. “We will work closely with farmers and USDA officials to make sure that Minnesota farmers have all the available resources to weather this ongoing drought.”

Governor Pawlenty also said that the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) will offer two loan programs through the Rural Finance Authority to provide low-cost emergency and restructure loans to farmers impacted by drought conditions:

• Disaster Assistance Loan Program for applicants who certify that the damage or loss was sustained within a county that was the subject of a disaster declaration.
• Restructure II Loan Program designed to help farmers who remain in good credit standing with their local agricultural lender, but are having trouble with cash flow due to adverse events.

The Rural Finance Authority partners with local lenders to provide affordable credit to eligible farmers.

In addition, MDA will work with the University of Minnesota Extension Service to enhance the “Hay List Hotline and Website” to help livestock producers in locating forage and hay from individuals selling hay or renting pasture. During multi-year drought situations, many livestock producers experience hay shortages because they are not able to adequately graze their animals on traditional pasture lands. While many producers try to have enough hay on hand for several years, it appears that supplies are becoming short. As a result, producers either sell animals or purchase hay on the open market.

The Hay List Website can be found online at http://www.haylist.umn.edu/.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor places portions of northeastern, central, east central, south central, and southwestern Minnesota in the Severe Drought category. With the exception of west central and northwestern counties, the remainder of Minnesota is classified as experiencing a Moderate Drought or depicted as being Abnormally Dry. The drought situation in the northern one third of Minnesota is the result of the lingering impacts of a very dry 2006, and a snow-sparse 2006-2007 winter. The drought situation in the southern two thirds of Minnesota is due to a dry 2007 growing season. Dryness has been entrenched across much of the southern two thirds of Minnesota for much of May, June, and July. 

The USDA Agricultural Statistics Service reports that “crop conditions continued to decline amid the heat and dry weather, with only few spotty showers recorded during the week.” Topsoil moisture supplies continued downward with approximately 78 percent rated as Short or Very Short. Blooming of Minnesota’s soybean crop was slowed amid dry conditions causing development to slip behind the five-year average pace.

According to the DNR, Minnesota’s last serious drought occurred in 1987-89. The warm, dry winter of 1986-87 marked the beginning of this drought period and conditions became very serious in June 1988 when Mississippi River flow levels threatened to drop below the Minneapolis Water Works intake pipes at Fridley.

The state also suffered through an unusually dry period in 1999-2000, particularly in southwestern Minnesota where precipitation totals in some communities were eight inches below normal for the period from June 1999 to March 2000. By late May 2000, dryness concerns had shifted from the southwest to parts of east central Minnesota, but no region was classified in a drought category at that time.