Assemblywoman Addie Jenne Russell said she is very appreciative of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's decision to quickly jump in to assist local farmers impacted by this year's drought.
United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsak has designated 15 counties in New York State as natural disaster areas due to the extended drought. Those counties have suffered from severe, extreme or exceptional droughts for eight or more consecutive weeks during the growing season.
A secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.
This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans.
Assemblywoman Russell said some counties in the North Country have been designated as moderate drought areas under the conditions of the U.S. Drought Monitor.
She noted there have been varying amounts of rainfall in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties this year with drought conditions appearing to be the most serious in the southern portion of Jefferson County.
"Thankfully our drought conditions are not as bad as in some other parts of the state, but many of our farmers have been impacted by the lack of rain this growing season. They need and deserve relief," Assemblywoman Russell said.
"I commend Governor Cuomo for making a request to Secretary Vilsak to issue the disaster declaration for all counties in the state that have been that been designated as suffering from moderate drought conditions and hope the Secretary of Agriculture acts on this request as expeditiously as possible," she noted.
She urged farmers impacted by the drought to carefully document the impact the weather conditions have had on their operations pending the decision by the USDA.
"This drought has only worsened an already struggling dairy industry because of the deplorable milk prices. I will be reaching out to our federal officials asking for their support in making sure the USDA makes its decisions on the governor's request as quickly as possible so farmers know their situation as soon as possible," Assemblywoman Russell said.
She pointed out that the state legislators representing the region are all working to make sure farmers receive the assistance they need. "All of my colleagues are pushing in the same direction," she noted.
Assemblywoman Russell said information shared with her office by Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator Jay Matteson indicated the Watertown USDA Farm Service Agency field office had submitted the information necessary for the disaster declaration just over two weeks ago after an initial storm report was submitted several weeks ago.
He indicated counties suffering from severe or higher drought designations receive an automatic disaster declaration from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, avoiding some of the process needed for a disaster declaration in counties suffering from moderate drought conditions.
Mr. Matteson, in his memo, said counties in moderate drought conditions must have their local USDA field office gather together the data for a potential disaster declaration and send that to the USDA State Office in Syracuse.
The information is then sent to the governor, and the governor can make a request to USDA for the disaster declaration.
"My understanding is the Governor’s office has made the request to USDA for the disaster declaration from the Secretary of Agriculture for all counties impacted in D2 drought zones, which includes Jefferson County. This request from the New York State Governor has now been sent to Washington D.C. to be processed for the potential declaration of Secretary Vilsack," Mr. Matteson said in the memorandum he shared with state officials.
He said he is concerned a decision on the disaster designation may not be made before October.
"We are concerned about the availability of forage for cattle for farms not carrying large inventories and encourage farms to begin assessing their feed inventories and determining where they will obtain feed from through the winter," Mr. Matteson wrote.
"We are also concerned about water resources for farms. Unless our region starts receiving significant and sustained precipitation over the next few months, it may be until next spring when snow melt begins before we see needed groundwater recharge," he added.
The primary counties designated as natural disaster areas in New York State are Cayuga, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Wyoming and Yates.
The nine counties named as contiguous disaster counties are Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Cortland, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego and Wayne.
