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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, August 16, 2024
The Agriculture Department is launching a $400 million effort with 18 irrigation districts to pay Western farmers to cut back on water use, so long as they promise to keep farming.
Winter precipitation and spring rains have held off the drought that has gripped large swaths of the country over the last several years, and that's a welcome relief for producers in the Midwest and West.
When it comes to water issues in the western U.S.—specifically the seven states dependent on the Colorado River system for their lives and livelihoods—John Boelts thinks farmers are giving up more than their share.
Snowpack conditions are among the lowest levels ever recorded at many measuring stations in the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) Network.
Farmers who bought crop insurance in 2022 will receive dramatically less in disaster aid than they have in recent years because of a “progressive factoring methodology” USDA made to the Emergency Relief Program for last year’s losses, according to an analysis by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Drought, low prices, supply chain disruptions have been plaguing California’s walnut farmers for years and a heat wave during last year’s harvest scorched the state’s groves, but ideal weather so far this year has the sector optimistic that growers are going to see their fortunes change.
Farmers need more assistance conserving water, Senator Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said at a hearing Wednesday where he touted new legislation that would help them do it.
Recent rains have brought some relief to producers reeling from drought in the Midwest, though many are hoping more will arrive to help usher their crops through the rest of the growing season.
USDA plans to send Emergency Relief Program and Emergency Livestock Relief Program pre-filled applications directly to eligible producers in early summer for those with qualifying disaster losses for the 2022 calendar year.