USDA Update

by Rod Johnson

April 18, 2003

On April 15, very high winds estimated at over 50 mph, caused further soil erosion and damage to cropland. Luckily, it started to rain about two hours after the wind began which settled the blowing dirt because the high winds lasted through the night into the next morning. Rain fall amounts ranged from .13 inches in Haswell, .55 in Eads to 1.25 in Sheridan Lake. The rain dried out on the morning of April 16 in the Haswell area and dirt was blowing again. This made for real unusual April weather this week. The winds were also strong enough to blow the roof off of at least one barn, blow over 1 windmill and damage some power poles.

Last week I made mention of a new nonfat dry milk program for livestock feed. We have since found out that Kiowa County will not be eligible for this program. Neighboring Colorado Counties of Baca, Bent, Crowley and Otero are eligible for this new program. Cheyenne, Lincoln and Prowers along with Kiowa are not eligible. We are dry but not dry enough! To be eligible for the program, a county must have been in a D4 - "exceptional" drought category on the drought monitor between September 3, 2002 and March 11, 2003 and still be listed on the March 11, 2003 drought monitor as either a D3 or D4 drought category. The last time a portion of Kiowa County was classified in a D4 drought category was August 27, 2002! Since September 3, 2002 Kiowa County has been in a D3 or D2 drought category. The Drought Monitor is an administratively convenient tool to use for program administration but I do not feel it tells the whole story on pasture and hay availability. Another change with this program is that it will be administered by the Colorado Department of Agriculture instead of FSA. The phone number for the Colorado Department of Agriculture is 303-239-4100. For now we just need to be thankful for the moisture we have received and hopefully we can get out of this extended drought period.

There is a good set of questions and answers concerning the Crop Disaster Program that have been posted on the FSA web site at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov . There is also a spreadsheet that can be downloaded to estimate disaster payments. Signup is scheduled to begin June 6. One question on the web site states that a producer must select either the 2001 or 2002 crop year for all crops on all farms.

Information on the class action litigation on behalf of corn farmers who planted Non-StarLink corn for grain since 1998 is available by calling 1-(888) 833-4317 or by visiting http://www.non-starlinkfarmerssettlement.com. The class action suit alleges that developers and marketers of StarLink (genetically altered seed) distributed corn seed in such a manner that caused widespread contamination of U.S. Corn supplies, diminishing the market value of corn.