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Boxer calls for drought aid for state farmers

Posted by: Maven on June 28, 2008 at 6:54 am

From Red Orbit:

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is urging U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to quickly provide drought assistance to California farmers using an agricultural disaster program authorized by the recently enacted Farm Bill.

In a letter sent Thursday, Boxer, D-Calif., said the drought has caused farmers “to walk away from thousands of acres of crops, an event with the potential to cost California’s economy hundreds of millions of dollars in lost agricultural production.”

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently declared a state of emergency for nine California counties with severe water shortages, which followed his previous declaration of a statewide drought.

In Fresno County, short-term losses resulting from unplanted acreage already have exceeded $73 million, county agricultural officials report. More than 40,000 acres were not planted, and production on another 170,000 acres could decrease by as much as 50% this year.

Boxer also cited the potential damage to crop and grazing land caused by the more than 800 wildfires burning throughout California.

“With the ongoing drought and wildfires in California and flooding that has damaged and destroyed crops in the Midwest,” she wrote, “there is now an urgent need for USDA to develop and implement regulations related to this new disaster program.”

Read the full text of this story from Red Orbit by clicking here.

June 28, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, Drought, Weather & Snowpack

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