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It's official: region has drought By JOHN DARLING With Gov. John Kitzhaber's declaration of drought emergency in Jackson and Josephine counties and the virtual certainty of a similar federal declaration, area ranchers, farmers and orchardists will become eligible for low-interest loans and cost-sharing programs and various forms of state help. The governor's executive order stated that, because of current weather patterns, drought and energy shortages, this area has "the imminent potential for a natural and economic disaster of catastrophic proportions (that will) worsen during the summer months." If they expect to need loans to cover financial losses caused by drought conditions, ranchers and farmers, including hobby farmers, have until Monday to register their acreage with the local Farm Services Agency. The office in Medford is at 776-4270, ext. 2. The FSA offers loans only if ranchers and farmers are unable to get them via conventional lenders, said Toni Williams, FSA director for Jackson and Josephine counties. Applicants have until Dec. 18 to apply. The FSA offers an Emergency Conservation Program, paying half of costs for drilling or deepening wells to sustain livestock through the drought, she said. It will pay 64 percent of temporary fixtures, such as holding tanks. It also offers a Non-Insured Assistance Program, offering low-interest loans for catastrophic losses on crops not covered under standard federal crop insurance. The normally insured crops here are wheat, barley, corn, pears, apples, grapes and nursery plants. Non-insured crops would include berries, nuts and vegetables. Pears are the Rogue Valley's number one crop. Ranching ranks second. The secretary of Agriculture almost always approves declarations made by a state's governor, Williams said, and, in addition, the loan process here had already been set in motion with earlier drought emergency declarations in the Klamath and Douglas counties. Area farm losses are "not that apparent" now for irrigated acres, Williams said, but many are already at levels of dryness experienced in September and October. "They're drying up. A lot of seasonal streams didn't run at all this year," Williams said. "Most guys that harvested hay say it's down 20 to 50 percent this year on the first cutting and they're not sure there'll even be second and third cuttings." Low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration for farm-dependent businesses became available here with the Klamath declaration in April, although SBA officials in Sacramento report no applications yet. They can be reached at 800-488-5323. The governor's declaration makes area ranchers and farmers eligible now for emergency state services, such as help in hauling water from the Oregon Department of Transportation and the state Forestry Department or asking the watermaster (of the state Department of Water Resources) to expedite temporary transfers of water permits, said Sandy Eccker, Jackson County Emergency Management director. The governor named the state Department of Agriculture to coordinate federal help and assigned the Emergency Management Office of the Oregon State Police to "mitigate current and projected conditions." Jackson County is working closely with all these agencies, Eccker said. "I can't think of anything we need right now from the state, because we're right at the beginning of the summer heat," Eccker said. "It's going to become pretty severe and will be hard on anyone using small streams for stock and crops. The Applegate is already struggling." On the net: FSA loan programs - www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistance1.htm John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.