Worsening drought in Maine has triggered federal financial support for farmers suffering crop losses and increased costs.
Ten counties in the southern half of the state qualified for assistance by being in severe drought for at least eight weeks or tipping over into extreme drought, according to Tommy Higgins, state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture' Maine Farm Service Agency.
"It could be anything from crop damage to loss of water, loss of feed and therein lies the different aspects of some of these programs," Higgins said.
More than half of Maine counties qualify for assistance. The federal programs include payments to livestock farmers for grazing losses, assistance to provide emergency water, install pipelines or wells, and assistance for uninsured crops.
"I would encourage any of our producers who are having issues and even if they are not signed up with us right now still come to talk to any of our folks in our county offices and let’s see what we can do for them," Higgins said.
Drought triggered previous rounds of federal assistance annually between 2020-2022 and in 2016, Higgins said. The agency estimated it might provide $290,000 in assistance this year to producers across affected counties to pay for water and grazing loss.
Every corner of the state was either abnormally dry or in drought as of Sept. 25 according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. About 230,000 people were living in a band of extreme drought stretching from the western foothills to Downeast.
Maine is 8-10 inches below average rainfall by this time of year according to the National Weather Service. And drought conditions are expected to persist in spite of soaking rain Thursday.
