Drought

Drought - USA

Federal farm officials have declared nearly the entire state of California a drought disaster area. The executive director of the U.S. Farm Service Agency in California said Friday that it was the first time he'd seen a disaster declaration covering the state, except for San Francisco.

Securing access to water for crops and livestock has been a top concern for producers of all types of crops and commodities throughout the state. "We've been living off the snowpack from a couple of seasons ago. It has become a very serious issue and probably exacerbated some of the other issues we are seeing, such as the (wildland) fires."

"We got very little rain after December of 2012. A lot of the cattlemen in this area depend on the feed produced by rangeland." Without natural grasses thriving on winter rains, ranchers may have to buy additional feed for their herds and many cattle may weigh less, and thus fetch less money, when sent to market.

Another concern, is that two consecutive seasons of below-average rain may limit the ability of pasturelands to recover. "If our rangeland grasses aren't growing and production is lessened, than you lose your seed reservoir for the next year." "If we don't get some healthy rains this fall, we're going to have some problems in this state. Mother Nature better bail us out this winter, because our government isn't taking care of us."

All of Iowa now rates as abnormally dry with most of the southern two-thirds of the state already in moderate drought.

Nebraska - Omaha drought conditions worsen. The Omaha-Council Bluffs area has slipped into severe drought, and Lincoln could be next in line as meaningful rains continue to miss the region.