PB workshop 3rd of 4 in U.S. aimed at drought relief

— Scott Sullivan said he has always been able to produce enough hay to feed the 400 cows he keeps in Polk County though the winter.

But the drought in 2011 depleted his reserves, and this year’s drought might do the same.

Sullivan sold 45 cows in June and expects that by winter he will have to sell calves that he normally wouldn’t sell until the spring “to get them off the feed bill.”

To help people like Sullivan, who have been affected by this year’s dry summer, the Delta Regional Authority, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture hosted a workshop Wednesday at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to discuss drought-recovery assistance.

The meeting was the third of four regional workshops that the USDA held with local, state and other federal agencies. Two workshops, held earlier this month, were in Nebraska and Colorado. The next will be in Ohio on Monday.

As of Oct. 2, all or parts of 39 states were declared natural-disaster areas by the USDA, according to a news release.

The Mississippi Delta’s farmers, small businesses and rural communities were hit hard by the drought, Chris Masingill, federal cochairman of the Delta Regional Authority, said in there lease.

The meetings are a “problem-solving activity” that are supposed to help the agencies find out what they can do to help people who have been hurt by the drought, said Joshua Barnes, of the economic development administration for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

But, he said, there is no single solution to drought related problems.

“There is no silver-bullet solution,” Barnes said. “It’s a matter of finding things that can happen.”

For Sullivan, the meeting Wednesday was a time to exchange information.

“I don’t hope to get anything. It’s just letting our agencies understand the issues we deal with on the farm,” he said.

Sullivan, who has a separate income as a consultantin the industry, expects this year’s drought to cost him about the same as the drought in 2011 did - $140 per cow.

Many cattle producers are having to sell their livestock early because of this year’s hay and water shortage, and the sale money goes back toward buying more feed for the remainder of the herds, said Marcus Creasy, president of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association. Also, the drought has caused prices of hay and other feed to rise, making matters worse.

“It seems like every time we get a step forward, we get a step back,” he said.

Creasy said there needs to be a program or two in place to help cattle farmers. He didn’t know what type of program would help but said a little funding would help.

“What we need from the federal government is a consistent program that will help us,” Creasy said. “What I hope comes from this is an indication that they listened.”

Business, Pages 29 on 10/18/2012

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