A large swath of Nebraska — all but the very southeastern tip — remains in some sort of drought area through the first weeks of May, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. A large region of northeast Nebraska remains in D3 or D4, which is extreme or exceptional drought, respectively.
The dust was flying behind planters and sprayers in the field outside West Point, Neb. — smack dab in the middle of the worst of the drought conditions and the center of Nebraska’s livestock sector — on May 3, when Robert Bonnie, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation, visited the USDA service center to speak with local farmers and USDA office and field personnel.
Bonnie came to the area to talk with producers and USDA employees about drought-related programs that are available, to hear about the intensity and impacts of the drought on producers, and to discuss how USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities initiatives can help.
What producers told him
“It’s clear that this is critical for a lot of producers everywhere,” Bonnie said in an interview with Farm Progress. “Lots of folks we talked to today are in the livestock industry, and we are seeing this across the country, producers having to sell cows.”
He asked those producers how to make the federal programs work better for them. “Can we stretch the Livestock Indemnity Program or the Livestock Forage Disaster Program — we are looking for ways to have these programs work better for producers,” Bonnie said. “I think there is more we can do to help producers deal with drought, and we want to make sure we are being as responsive as we can.”
Bonnie said in a year when the new farm bill will be developed, there may be opportunities for the U.S. Congress to address ways to help producers with drought as well. “On both the crops and the livestock side, there are some pretty serious challenges for producers here,” he added.
Local USDA offices
The local USDA Service Center staff at the county level is the delivery system to producers for most federal farm programs. Bonnie acknowledged that staffing today is down from levels five to six years ago, and it is hard to hire new staff.
“We want to make sure junior employees are retained and that we are getting the best employees,” he said, “but the time to hire takes too long right now. We just talked about training at this office in West Point, and how providing training to folks helps to retain them.”
He said that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to make USDA one of the best places to work in the federal government. “We know how strongly farmers and ranchers feel about their local USDA offices,” Bonnie said. “We want to make sure local offices have current technology and are equipped. We know that we ask a lot of local county employees, and how important local staff are.”
There is a recognition of this fact among farmers and farm groups. To make sure the engine is running smoothly, people who run these programs have to be well compensated and well taken care of, Bonnie said.
Source: farmprogress.com
Categories: Nebraska, Government & Policy