President Obama says that the Department of Agriculture has been working with every other agency across the federal government to make sure that we are taking every single possible step to help farmers and ranchers to fight back and recover from this disaster.
The Environmental Working Group, joined by Defenders of Wildlife, released it's report "Plowed Under" on the impact of high crop prices and crop insurance subsidies on environmental conservation efforts.
In a press conference Monday, the group announced that Congress needs "to make basic environmental protections a condition of receiving federal subsidies in the next farm bill and to reject efforts to slash funds for voluntary conservation programs designed to reduce water pollution problems and restore native habitat."
The federal government last week increased the number of counties that are experiencing a moderate to severe drought this year to include more than half the counties in the country. Many farmers will use their crop insurance policies to offset this year's losses.
In the interim, the Administration has put into place a series of actions to respond to the drought (see below). Members of the Rural Council are staff who work on the White House Domestic Policy Council, including Rural Affairs Senior Policy Advisor Doug McKalip, as well as representatives from agencies across the federal government. But a complete, up-to-date list of all members has not been released for 2012.
Tuesday's meeting will have "a pool spray" for media, meaning the President's press pool will be allowed in briefly to take photos and perhaps get a comment or two. With the threat of a spike in food and fuel prices due to the drought, the Administration's response is now a hot political topic for the President's re-election campaign.
In a drought update posted on Monday for the week ending August 5, USDA reported that drought conditions are "covering nearly two-thirds of the US," and noted that "as cooler weather and scattered showers arrived across the Corn Belt late last week, Midwestern drought intensity appears to have reached a plateau."
Still, "well over half (59%) of the nation’s rangeland and pastures were rated in very poor to poor condition—a record for this statistic during the 18-year period of record," USDA said, adding that "recovery from this summer’s extraordinarily hot, dry weather will be a lengthy process, requiring the change of seasons and multiple soaking rainfall events—not just occasional showers."
Sans the President, Vilsack hosted a drought meeting on the White House campus for Rural Council members and stakeholders on July 27th.
Administration drought response...
According to USDA, "following President Obama’s instructions of using existing programs to support struggling farmers and ranchers," the department has responded to the drought by:
*Streamlining drought disaster declarations directly from Drought Monitor data
*Allowing nearly 30 million acres under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to be used for emergency haying or grazing
*Lowering payment reduction for CRP lands that qualify for emergency haying and grazing in 2012, from 25% to 10%
*Allowing producers to modify current Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts to allow for grazing, livestock watering and other conservation activities to address drought conditions
