Washington, D.C.-The severe drought ranging from Texas up to South Dakota and other areas of the Midwest prompted the federal government to promise nearly $800 million in disaster aid on Aug. 29. USDA Secretary Mike Johanns said 64 percent of the nation’s beef cows and breeding stock are in drought-stricken areas, and that many ranchers are being forced to cull their herds. Drought is also stressing fields of cotton, wheat, sorghum, peanuts, and other crops, Johanns said. Of the drought relief total, $50 million will come in the form of block grants for livestock producers in counties designated as “extreme” or “exceptional” drought areas; $18 million in emergency conservation funds to rehabilitate farmland in 27 states; $11 million from the grassland conservation program for grazing lands in 14 states; and $700 million worth of accelerated planned payments to cotton, grain sorghum, and peanut farmers. The aid is on top of $4 billion in crop insurance the government expects to pay out this year. The aid announcement, which came less than a month after Texas agriculture officials said this year’s crop and livestock losses would total $4.1 billion and represent the worst single-year losses in the state’s history, was greeted with criticism from some farm groups and farm state legislators, who said it was not nearly enough.
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