USDA May Provide Drought Relief for Farmers

By CnAgri2012-07-11 20:00:29 Print

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to announce a series of relief efforts that will help American farmers and ranchers impacted by the severe drought that has plagued much of the country. The drought is slashing hay output and leaving corn and soybean crops withering in bone-dry fields.

According to the Des Moines Register, the announcement from the USDA will center on changes in disaster assistance to producers struggling with the drought by focusing on increasing their flexibility in the Conservation Reserve Program--a program that pays producers an annual rent for taking fragile land out of production--and within the department's authority to provide emergency loans.

The first half of the year was the country's warmest on record, with thousands of new high temperatures set, according to government data. The national temperature in 2012 has averaged 52.9 degrees, 1.2 degrees above the next-warmest year in 2006.

The unusually warm conditions have placed more than half of the country in a drought.