In the midst of a drought that seems like it will never go away, Palo Pinto County along with 107 other Texas counties is finally getting some relief, although not in the form of water.

USDA Texas Farm Service Agency Executive Director Judith A. Canales declared that 108 Texas counties were in a disaster condition on Jan. 15. The streamlined Secretarial Disaster Designation process led to this declaration because of the current drought. This designation allows producers in any of the eligible primary or contiguous disaster counties to apply for low interest emergency loans.

Beyond Texas, contiguous counties throughout New Mexico and Oklahoma were declared Primary Natural Disaster Areas as well.

Scott Mauney, Palo Pinto County AgriLife Extension Agent, said that Palo Pinto County has been in a drought for around five years, and it has definitely presented a hardship to local agricultural professionals.

“With the drought, our pastures are not growing enough forage for our livestock,” Mauney said. “We’ve got to have the forage to run cattle, so people have to make the decision whether or not to sell or move cattle.”

A second option Mauney proposed beyond selling was to move the water to the area in need, which is no real substitute for rain.

“If we don’t have stock water, we either have to haul water or move the cattle around, “ Mauney said. “We have to have the rain to fill those stock tanks.”

In closing, Mauney reinforced that water is a big factor to the economy.

“We have to make good economic decisions,” Mauney said. “Water makes a lot of difference in agricultural work. A lot of decisions have to be made based on our drought situation. Our lakes are really down as well, [and they] bring a lot of people into the Palo Pinto County area.”

To put things into perspective, according to Judi Pierce of the Brazos River Authority, Possum Kingdom Lake’s water level is 12.17 feet below normal, putting PK Lake at its lowest point in nearly 15 years. Moreover, there’s little hope for change in water levels at this time since rain has been sparse and water inflow to the lake is low as well.

“The amount of water [flowing] into the lake is 6.9 cubic feet per second, which is a very low flow for this time of year. The [current] median number [for January] is 191 cubic feet per second,” Pierce said. “This is very unusual.”

Tourists and property owners may not see reprieve for a while, but monetary aid can provide some relief for those in absolute need or, more specifically, those involved in agriculture.

The designation process issues a drought disaster declaration after a drought intensity value of at least a D2 – a severe drought – has occurred for eight consecutive weeks. All measurements are based on the U.S. Drought Monitor during the crop year.

“The disaster designation is welcome relief to producers because it allows all qualified operators in primary and contiguous counties to apply for a low inter-emergency (EM) loan,” Canales said.

The ultimate goal behind these loans is to help producers recover from agricultural losses due to drought. Counties affected by flooding, natural disaster or quarantine are also eligible for emergency loans.

From the date of the disaster declaration, producers have eight months to apply for emergency loan assistance. Extent of losses, security available and ability to repay are the key elements taken into consideration by the FSA. Each applicant will be considered on an individual basis.

Those eligible can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, capping out at a maximum amount of $500,000.

Source - http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/

In the midst of a drought that seems like it will never go away, Palo Pinto County along with 107 other Texas counties is finally getting some relief, although not in the form of water. USDA Texas Farm Service Agency declared that 108 Texas counties were in a disaster condition on Jan. 15. The streamlined Secretarial Disaster Designation process led to this declaration because of the current drought. This designation allows producers in any of the eligible primary or contiguous disaster counties to apply for low interest emergency loans.

USA - Palo Pinto County declared a ‘Primary Natural Disaster Area’