Items Tagged with 'drought'

The rainy season is kicking off with enough moisture to ease some Californians’ water worries, but the long-term outlook for agriculture remains one that calls upon farmers to maximize “crop per drop.” In the case of almonds, one of the state’s most profitable crops, it could take decades to transition from existing trees to others that can achieve similar yields with less water.

Parts of California received record-breaking rainfall over the past week, but “it’s too early to tell” how much impact that will have on the current drought, says UC Davis professor Jay Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences.

The Western drought that stretches through much of the Great Plains is pushing cattle ranchers and dairy farmers to the breaking point – and sometimes past it – as producers scramble to feed their animals.

A House subcommittee on Wednesday will serve as the venue for the third hearing in 10 days aimed at studying the impacts of a lingering drought on California and other western states.

A private-lands project that aims to improve conditions for threatened coho salmon in California is getting an $8 million boost from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

The Agriculture Department is increasing the amount of assistance available to drought-stricken cattle producers by adding coverage for feed transportation costs to the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program.

Arizona farmers are bracing for water cuts next year after the Bureau of Reclamation announced a historic shortage at Lake Mead, which collects water from the Lower Colorado River Basin.

The prolonged drought in the upper Midwest is dragging down crop yields by more than the government or traders expected, although U.S. farmers should produce 4% more corn and 5% more soybeans this year than they did in 2020, according to the Agriculture Department's first survey-based estimates of the fall harvest.

The House Agriculture Committee approved an $8.5 billion disaster bill that would cover a wide range of producers’ losses in 2020 and 2021, with somewhat more generous provisions than the recent relief programs.

Several western states are dealing with the second-largest grasshopper outbreak that the U.S. has seen in 35 years.