Drought Destroys More Crops in CO, ID, OR, TX, UT
Posted by feww on May 14, 2015
Drought Disaster Declared for 34 Additional Counties in Five States
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 34 additional counties across five states—Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Utah—as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the drought.
The drought disaster designations are for the following areas
- Colorado: Garfield, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties.
- Idaho: Ada, Blaine, Boise, Camas, Custer, Elmore, Gooding, Owyhee and Twin Falls counties.
- Oregon: Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Morrow,Wasco and Wheeler counties.
- Texas: Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasas and McLennan counties.
- Utah: Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Grand, Summit, Uintah, Utah and Wasatch counties.
US Crops Experiencing Drought (as of last week)
Approximate Percentage of Corn Located in Drought: 26%
Approximate Percentage of Soybeans Located in Drought: 22%
Approximate Percentage of Hay Acreage Located in Drought: 28%
Approximate Percentage of Cattle Inventory Located in Drought: 37%
Approximate Percentage of Winter Wheat Production Located in Drought: 43%
[Source: USDA Agricultural Weather Assessments World Agricultural Outlook Board]
Crop Disasters 2015
Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least an 1,169 counties across 20 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
Majority of the 2015 crop disaster designations so far are due to drought.
Crop Disasters 2014
In 2014, USDA declared crop disasters in at least 2,904 counties across 44 states. Most of the designations were due to drought.
Those states were:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. [FIRE-EARTH has documented all of the above listings. See blog content.]
Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.
ii. The counties designated as agricultural disaster areas, as listed above, include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.
iii. Some counties may have been designated as crop disaster areas more than once due to multiple disasters.
iv. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.
v. The disaster designations posted above were approved by USDA on May 13, 2015 and posted on their website in four separate declarations.
Fire Earth 
oshrivastava said
Reblogged this on oshriradhekrishnabole.