Federal drought relief OK’d for ranchers and farmers

Posted by egable on July 11th, 2008 filed in Agriculture

Gov. Bill Ritter (D) received notice today that the federal Farm Service Agency has approved his June 24 request for emergency drought assistance in parts of southeastern Colorado, allowing ranchers and farmers access to Conservation Reserve Program acres for haying and grazing.

Despite the above-average snowfall in the Colorado mountains this winter, some parts of southeastern Colorado have seen only 19 percent of normal precipitation.

The counties approved for emergency grazing are Baca, Bent, Kiowa, Phillips, Prowers and Yuma.