Kudos to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for caring and trying, but its just-announced $21 million in drought aid for farmers and ranchers stacks up as, well, a drop in the bucket compared to what the country's hardest-hit areas are up against.
Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funding will be used by the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help with the application of science-based conservation and other solutions "to mitigate the short and long-term effects of drought."
But it doesn't say anything about surviving now.
The secretary's announcement said dollars will be provided via Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) allocations and will be directed at the most severely drought-stricken parts of eight western states: California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Allocations will cover half the cost of selected conservation projects; farmers and ranchers will pay the rest.
Even in just those eight states, however, and remember that summer isn't here yet, the drought problem is already so big that $21 million seems like nothing.
According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, California is the largest agricultural value state in the nation and fifth in farm numbers. The U.S. Drought Monitor rates almost the entire state as being in severe drought. Texas is fifth in ag value and first in farm numbers. Oklahoma is fourth in farm numbers. Kansas is seventh in ag value.
Together, the eight states had more than 551,000 farms in 2012. If only 5 percent are in areas targeted for EQIP allocations, the $21 million budget works out to just $762 per farm.
