U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has designated nine counties in southwestern and south central Minnesota farm country as disaster areas, allowing drought-sapped farmers to receive federal assistance for the second consecutive year.
Southern Minnesota struck (again) by intense drought
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack designates nine Minnesota counties — all in the farm-rich, rural west and south — as disaster areas for this summer's drought conditions.
October 18, 2022 at 9:59AM
The counties all span drought levels destructive to commercial agriculture, according to a national monitor. Stretching across southern Minnesota southwest from the western edge of the Twin Cities region to the South Dakota border, the counties designated last week are Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Murray, Nicollet, Pipestone, Redwood, Rice and Wright.
Under federal law, farmers in any county contiguous to the designated disaster areas are also eligible. There are 20 Minnesota counties and four in South Dakota that share borders and are therefore eligible for relief.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, D2 denotes "severe" drought for eight or more straight weeks; D3 and D4 mark "extreme" to "exceptional" levels of drought.
With the federal designation, farmers can contact their local federal Farm Service Agency office to see about applying for emergency loans to help offset farm losses.
In 2021, 67 of Minnesota's 87 counties were primary drought counties.
Carolyn Olson, a farmer in Lyon County, said she recorded receiving just over 6 inches of rain since July 1. This spring, storms brought rain and hail to her wheat crop, but moisture has been almost absent since September.
"It's way less than we should've gotten," Olson told the Star Tribune on Monday. "You know there's not a lot of moisture down below."
The state Department of Natural Resources precipitation recorder in Redwood Falls has measured 12 inches of rain so far this year — an amount much closer to the recorded low of 11 inches in 1988 than the high of 35 inches in 2017.
Olson is one of many Minnesota farmers who've finished their harvests. According to the latest crop report, growers have harvested 83% of the state's soybeans and 36% of its corn for grain. This fall's hot weather may have hampered her yields, Olson said.
But after two consecutive years of abnormal dryness, concerns are mounting about the soil's ability to repair itself.
"We need good spring rains and a snowpack," said Olson.
She said that during fall tillage a year ago, the plow was not damaged by arid soil. But she worries she won't be so lucky this year.
The Birds Eye plant recruited workers without providing all the job details Minnesota law requires.
