Drought in Dakotas Worsens, Selling Cattle in Mile-Long Lines.
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Dennis Daugaard (R-SD) has declared a statewide emergency because of the ongoing drought conditions in his state.
As part of the state of emergency, South Dakota will ease haying and transportation restrictions to assist ag producers.
Meanwhile in North Dakota, Doug Goehring, state agriculture commissioner, got a first-hand look at the drought conditions.
He says it is “heartbreaking” to see livestock producers lined up for almost a mile at auction markets.
There have been calls to open Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres to early haying and grazing.

But this question matters beyond those interested in investing in, regulating, or even starting companies.
Besides fewer jobs, companies staying private longer means public market investors, who rely on the growth to diversify risk and fund retirement obligations, are also being left out of the spoils of new company creation.
Finally, easing mutual fund concentration restrictions that limit their holdings in individual companies might also encourage more investment in the smaller-capitalization end of the trading market.
Short-term pressures reduce long-term investments.
Under this structure, voting rights increase for all investors with longer holding periods.
So “rightsizing” regulations that scale with the size and market cap of the company makes more sense.
Interestingly, the JOBS Act was created in 2012 precisely to solve the problem of too few IPOs.
Most of the good things it did involved making the process of going public easier: confidential filings; enabling companies to test the waters with institutional investors pre-offering; and size-adjusting regulatory burdens for emerging growth companies.
Recently, one of the most successful tech companies of the age — Amazon — celebrated its 20th anniversary as a public company.
Or perhaps more importantly: Where is the smaller-cap company — not the unicorn — that can become the next big tech enterprise, the next high-growth opportunity?

Although recent rains have mitigated the drought conditions that have been prevalent on the north central and western sections of the state, the outlook is for drought conditions to persist in those areas.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about 80 percent of South Dakota is considered to be abnormally dry or drier.
And about 13 percent of the state is experiencing a severe drought.
The rains of the last few weeks have brought relief to some parts of the eastern half of the state.
“According to data, most of eastern South Dakota received about 2 inches of rain.
But the additional rainfall in the north-central and western sections won’t be enough to prevent the drying out of those areas, especially if there are higher than normal winds.
“Drought conditions are severe.
Along with the prevailing northwesterly flow of air aloft, Clabo sees windier conditions and more dry cold fronts, neither of which will bring much rain.
Along with the drier and windier conditions will come increasing fire dangers, said Clabo.
That year, the continuing drought that began two years previously brought extreme fire danger indices and several major wildfires to the Black Hills area.

“Saving livelihoods means saving lives – this is what building resilience is all about,” he added, noting that for years, the focus has been responding to droughts when they happen, rushing to provide emergency assistance and to keep people alive.
While these emergency responses are important, investing in preparedness and resilience puts countries on a footing to act quickly before it is too late, meaning that farmers and rural communities are better positioned to cope with extreme weather when it does hit.
The need for a global drought re-boot is pressing.
The many impacts of drought drive not only hunger and instability but cause economic losses up to $8 billion each annually.
As the planet’s climate changes, severe dry-spells are becoming more and more frequent.
Since the 1970s, the land area in the world affected by situations of drought has doubled.
Over 80 percent of damage and losses caused by drought are born by agriculture in the developing world, FAO studies have shown.
Between 2005 and 2016, 84 droughts affected 34 different African nations.
“WMO provides guidance and scientific information to strengthen national services responsible for addressing drought risks to agriculture,” said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas.
“This means investing in smallholder farmers to help them address productivity challenges, give them access to markets and finance and most importantly encourage climate-smart agriculture so that when the drought inevitably comes, they have the tools they need to survive and thrive,” said Mr. Houngbo.

BLOG ROUND-UP: The Delta tunnels EIR; Winnemem Wintu partners with Go Fund Me for salmon project; PPIC weighs in on conservation policy debate; CA’s shameful lack of conservation innovation; Lost to the sea; and more blog commentary ….
… ” Read more from Alex Breitler’s blog here: More confusion than clarity in tunnels EIR Winnemem Wintu partners with Go Fund Me to finance first salmon relocation & restoration project: Dan Bacher writes, “After a seven-year campaign to get the attention of federal agencies, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe is poised to take a major step in bringing home the descendants of the McCloud River Chinook salmon from the rivers of New Zealand.
So traditionally measurement and leakage have been pretty much ignored.
” Continue reading at the Aguanomics blog here: California’s shameful lack of conservation innovation Lost to the Sea: Families Protecting the Valley writes, “You can see almost 49,000,000 acre feet of water have flowed into the Delta and 45,000,000 have gone through and out to sea.
… ” Read more from Families Protecting the Valley here: Lost to the Sea Irrigation management in the Western states, as seen from overseas: “The transformation of the western United States by irrigation offers hope for developing countries looking for models to improve their irrigation system for food security or agricultural prosperity.
… ” Read more from the California Water Blog here: Irrigation management in the Western states, as seen from overseas Why drought makes water rates rise: Lori Pottinger writes, “For those in the business of selling water, drought often brings financial strains.
PPIC: Why do customers’ water rates sometimes rise during drought—even after big jumps in water conservation?
If the forecast holds, that’s enough of an increase in Mead storage, thanks to a larger-than average snowpack in the Rockies, to avoid a shortage that will kick in if (when?)
… ” Read more from the NRDC blog here: How Trump’s budget drains drinking water protections Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!
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Josh Newton’s Water Jobs & More – 20 June 2017.
All things freshwater: news, analysis, humor, reviews, and commentary from Michael E. ‘Aquadoc’ Campana, hydrogeologist, hydrophilanthropist, Professor of Hydrogeology and Water Resources Management in the Geography Program of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University, Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of New Mexico, Past President of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) and Past Chair of the Scientists & Engineers Division of the National Ground Water Association (NGWA).
He is President of the nonprofit NGWA Foundation and the nonprofit Ann Campana Judge Foundation, an organization involved with WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Central America.
He serves on the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership (GWP).
CYA statement: with the exception of guest posts, the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Michael E. Campana and not those of CEOAS, Oregon State University, ACJF, AWRA, NGWA, GWP, my spouse Mary Frances, or any other person or organization.

Amid Drought, Somali Pastoralists Watch Their ‘Sources of Life’ Perish.
With 17 million people crippled by drought in the Horn of Africa, Samuel Hall researchers and photographer Ashley Hamer explain the realities of climate-induced displacement in Somalia on World Refugee Day.
Somalia has consistently produced one of the largest refugee and internally displaced populations in the world, due to a combination of conflict, environmental degradation, drought and famine.
Having been a herdsman all his life, Ahmed, who knows no other means of making a living, lost 90 percent of his 150 animals as a consequence of the current drought in the Horn of Africa.
With experts noting that climate change may be contributing to more severe droughts in the region, the situation in Somalia highlights the need for prompt and comprehensive climate change action.
Our research in these areas has proven that it is pivotal to explicitly recognize the environmental drivers of displacement that are creating forced migration within countries and across borders.
But the first steps of tackling environmental displacement will require understanding the impact on communities and addressing their specific needs.
Sahara did not lose all of her family’s livestock, but her family itself has been torn apart by the crisis.
Sahara and her three children traveled to an IDP camp earlier this year.
But Somalia is not the only country facing displacement challenges as a result of severe climatic events.

ROUNDS: Drought latest threat to ag industry.
Ranchers are struggling to feed their livestock and farmers are concerned about their crops.
The drought underscores the importance of the farm bill, the primary ag and food policy legislation that directs U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and is generally up for reauthorization every five years.
Those discussions include the importance of safety-net programs such as crop insurance and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which are designed to help farmers and ranchers during adverse times.
I recently joined Sen. John Thune in urging USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to provide timely assistance to the South Dakota counties facing extreme drought conditions.
In our letter, we asked him to be ready to provide expedited assistance to counties that will likely soon be in extreme drought conditions and eligible for assistance from the Livestock Forage Program (LFP).
We also requested that CRP acres be made available for emergency haying and grazing as soon as possible due to the substantial loss of grazing and forage for feed.
We also asked USDA to open up CRP acres for haying and grazing no later than July 15, which is several weeks earlier than normal.
“Timely assistance is needed in order to preserve foundation grazing livestock herds in the drought-stricken areas of our state from further downsizing due to lack of feed and forage,” we wrote.
In South Dakota, our farmers and ranchers are not immune to challenging conditions.

ROME/OUAGADOUGOU, Jun 19 2017 (IPS) – Ignoring the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa’s interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The high-ranking officials also called for partnerships to create 2 million secure land-based jobs through rehabilitation of 10 million hectares of degraded land.
As well, they called for investment in rural infrastructure, rehabilitation tools and skills development and prioritisation of job creation in unstable and insecure areas.
Drought, Unemployment and Hopelessness, Fertile Grounds for Extremism Presidents Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and Mahammadou Issoufou of Niger stressed that drought, food insecurity, water scarcity, unemployment, hopelessness about the future and poverty are fertile grounds for extremism, and a sign of insecurity, instability and unsustainability.
“Millions of rural young people face an uncertain future due to the lack of decent rural jobs and continuous loss of livelihoods due to land degradation and falling yields…Frustrations will boil over with more migration and more conflict over a shrivelling resource base.” The challenge is bigger than just a matter of a million young African’s attempting to make the move towards Europe over the course of a year, she said, adding that the UK Ministry of Defence estimates up to 60 million Africans are at risk of distressed migration as a result of land degradation and desertification pressures in the next two decades.
The Land for Life China award was given to Ms Yingzhen Pan, Director General of National Bureau to Combat Desertification, China.
As stated in the theme of the World Day to Combat Desertification, Our Land, Our Home, Our Future must be preserved against all forms of degradation or desertification, said the minister.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only legally binding international agreement on land issues.
It promotes good land stewardship, and its 196 Parties aim, through partnerships, to implement the Convention and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
“By sustainably managing land and striving to achieve land degradation neutrality, now and in the future, we will reduce the impact of climate change, avoid conflict over natural resources and help communities to thrive.”

Hughes County Commission makes emergency drought declaration, seeking federal funds.
The Hughes County Commission declared a natural-disaster drought emergency on Monday at their regular meeting, hoping it will unleash some federal and state funds to help farmers who have already lost wheat, hay and pasture-grass crops.
The county’s farmers have reported $16.85 million worth of crop losses, with 90.7 percent of those losses coming from the winter-wheat crop alone, which was planted last fall, according to assessments given to the five-man commission by Brian Stewart.
The remaining 9.32 percent of the estimated losses come from spring wheat, alfalfa and pasture-grass crops, according to figures Stewart gave the commission on Monday.
In his “loss assessment reports,” which he will turn in with the commission’s emergency declaration, Stewart said that 300 farmers in the county were hit hard by the hot, dry conditions, including receiving only 61 percent of normal precipitation from Jan. 1 to June 1.
“We know there are a lot of losses to winter wheat,” Stewart told the commission.
The drought disaster declaration cites “inadequate winter snowfall, inadequate spring rainfall, desolating winds and late frost conditions,” which led the commissioners to unanimously declare “that said drought conditions constitute a natural disaster of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of this county, and even the state of South Dakota, and that federal assistance is necessary.
(but) there may be some disaster money out there,” Stewart’s assessment reports said that county farmers lost 3.32 million bushels of winter-wheat yield on 56,311 acres in the county, caused by the hot, dry conditions since March 1 and lasting season-long, as well as a late frost at the end of May.
The alfalfa on 3,712 acres in the county was hit first by a late, damaging frost from May 20-22, that did an estimated $211,584 of hurt – knocking off 2,227 tons of hay valued at $95 a ton, according to Stewart.
Ranchers in the county also reported losses in value of $89,318 on 105,500 acres of pasture, according to Stewart.