The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency has designated every county in Colorado as a primary natural disaster area because of the ongoing drought.
The designation allows farmers to receive emergency loans to meet various recovery needs, including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Southwest Colorado has suffered a third consecutive winter with a weak snowpack. According to a preliminary forecast for Dolores River runoff, the most probable irrigation supply in McPhee Reservoir ranges from 2.5 inches per acre to 6 inches per acre, or 11% to 27% of the 22 inches per acre allocation when the reservoir fills.
Thirty-three counties received the disaster designation in New Mexico, and eight in Arizona.
The counties qualified because, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor, they suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of severe drought (Level D2) of exception drought (D4) for eight or more consecutive weeks.
Additional direct payment drought disaster relief programs could be made available after May 1, said Kacey Riedel, FSA executive director for Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel counties.
The USDA ELAP livestock forage program provides direct drought relief payments to farmers and ranchers based on lost production on nonirrigated lands, including on federal public lands.
Another popular federal drought aid program pays farmers and ranchers to cover costs for additional transportation demands because of the drought. For example, direct payments are made to cover transportation costs of hauling water or for traveling farther than normal to obtain hay for livestock.
“The programs help with the added costs, recognizing producers have already suffered losses,” Riedel said.
The cash assistance payments do not have to be repaid.
Riedel said hundreds farmers and ranchers in Dolores, Montezuma and San Miguel counties took advantage of USDA drought relief programs last year.
For more information, contact the Farm Service Agency Montezuma County office at (970-565-9045.
As of April 28, most of Montezuma County was considered to be in “moderate” or “severe” drought, levels D1 and D2 on a scale ranging from “abnormally dry” at D0 to “exceptional” at D4.
The far southwestern Four Corners area – a small part of Southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona – was in "extreme“ drought (D4).
More information about drought assistance is available on the USDA Farm Service Agency website.
To sign up for the Montezuma County Farm Service Agency, visit https:public.govdelivery.com.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
