Twenty six Ohio counties have received a disaster designation due to extreme drought conditions.
Farmers are often the first groups impacted by drought, and this disaster designation will help them get financial help, according to Aaron Wilson, the agriculture weather climate field specialist for Ohio State University Extension.
"They're having to haul a lot of water in to maintain operations there. They're losing crops because of the crop stress or pastures aren't growing," he said. "So they're short on feed. That is costly, Right? It has a big economic impact on farmers."
Ohio's drought condition level is updated every Thursday, and for weeks the drought has been spreading and worsening.
"When you think about any time you have a period of time — say two weeks, less than that even, a seven day period, two weeks, a month — where the amount of precipitation that is falling from the sky is less than what is typically experienced over that period of time, you start to get dry conditions," Wilson said. "And over a certain period of time that then becomes a meteorological drought."
Drought conditions are measured in tiers. D0 designates the lowest threat. D4 represents an exceptional drought. Once a county hits a D3 level, it is automatically given a disaster designation, said Matt Kleski, the chief program specialist for the production adjustment and compliance section of the Ohio Farm Service Agency.
Drought level designations are based on a number of measurable conditions.
Wilson said they monitor things like precipitation levels, weather conditions, vegetation, natural water sources like rivers and other physical indicators.
“It's about this convergence of evidence. So we're not just looking at physical indicators from a statistical standpoint, that's a big part of it," he said. "But we're also taking into consideration those local impacts on the landscape.”
Farmers impacted by the drought have access to a number of resources through their local Farm Service Agency office. Programs include the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, the Livestock Forage Disaster Program the Tree Assistance Program and more.
Cooley said farmers should visit with their local farm service agency office to see what kind of assistance they’re eligible to receive before moving forward on applying for programs.
"We need to first have that conversation with those producers to understand what their needs are and to go through the eligibility of our programs with them before they start any activity on their farm,” she said.
More resources and information for agricultural losses can be found at farmers.gov.
