Articles Tagged with ''drought''

Arizona's farmers, already receiving 65% less Colorado River water, are preparing to be entirely cut off from the aqueduct supply as the Bureau of Reclamation pressures states to slash water usage amid an ongoing drought.

President Joe Biden’s nominee as chief agricultural trade negotiator, Doug McKalip, gets a Senate confirmation hearing this week, and House Democrats will advance a child nutrition reauthorization bill that would expand eligibility for free lunches and increase meal subsidies for schools.

The U.S. is donating billions of dollars worth of food and other humanitarian assistance to address the global food crisis, but some of the poorest regions in the world still stand on the precipice of famine.

The combination of factors that came together within the last two years for California food and agriculture “should be considered a Black Swan event” that was unpredictable yet can have severe impacts, according to a leading analyst.

A California representative said his state needs short term funding and long-term investments to support farmers struggling with drought.

The Bureau of Reclamation is working on new steps to prevent further depletion of drought-stricken Colorado River reservoirs that are critical for agriculture and cities but shrinking to levels that can’t sustain hydropower.

The federal government’s Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group is helping coordinate the distribution of $13 billion provided by the infrastructure bill as drought continues to hammer western communities.

The Department of Agriculture is preparing to utilize a suite of programs to assist producers struggling with drought.

Drought conditions that have been concentrated in the West and southern Plains are likely to spread in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota this summer, according to the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook.