Drought loan programs approved by ND Industrial Commission.
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Industrial Commission approved two Bank of North Dakota loan programs to help livestock producers hampered by this year’s drought Wednesday, Sept. 13.
The three-member commission, chaired by Gov.
Producers in 46 of the state’s 53 counties will be eligible for the programs, reflecting the widespread nature of the drought.
As much as 45.6 percent of North Dakota was in an extreme or exceptional drought in late July, although conditions have improved since then.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, a member of the commission, said the programs will "help a lot of producers make some decisions right now before they go into winter."
Bank of North Dakota President Eric Hardmeyer estimated the loans between both programs would total $25 million to $30 million.
The state-owned bank will work with local lenders to determine the Bank of North Dakota’s level of participation.
Hardmeyer said they may introduce a similar program this fall for farmers who saw crop losses due to the drought.
He attended the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, where he studied journalism and political science, and he previously worked at the Grand Forks Herald and Bemidji Pioneer.

North Dakota is hoping to use a loan program through its state-owned bank to help ranchers rebuild breeding stock and to help pay for feed to stabilize herd levels that have been decimated by the state’s worst drought in decades.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring estimates that drought this summer has forced North Dakota cattle ranchers to sell off about 100,000 animals as pastures dried up and pushed hay prices to as much as double the normal cost.
The commission will meet Wednesday to approve guidelines for a drought disaster low-interest loan program through the bank, which would underwrite the loans from other North Dakota financial institutions.
Some of the areas hit hardest by drought are "some of the most significant cattle producing regions," said Ellingson, who also is a rancher.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said North Dakota’s cattle herd stood at 1.8 million animals in January, the latest figures available.
Burgum also made a request last month for a presidential major disaster declaration for drought.
Ellingson called the proposed loan program through the state-owned bank "another tool" to "help offset feed costs and help livestock producers address liquidating portions of their herds because of drought."
"Stabilizing that industry not only benefits that industry but the state of North Dakota as a whole," she said.
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Drought continues to stress North Dakota crops, livestock.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Drought continues to put stress on crops and livestock in North Dakota.
Temperatures across the state averaged 2 to 6 degrees above normal.
Corn condition was rated 25 percent poor or very poor.
Soybean conditions also were nearly 25 percent poor or very poor.
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MINOT, North Dakota (Reuters) – Spring wheat crops in central and northwestern North Dakota were showing the effects of hot, dry conditions and yield prospects were down sharply from a year ago, scouts on an annual crop tour said Wednesday. “The early-planted stuff looks the toughest,” said Dave Green, executive vice president of the Wheat Quality Council, which runs the tour. Prospects were slightly better for later-planted wheat and crops in northern areas could still benefit from moisture, with harvest still a few weeks away. “The best scenario is to keep the temperatures from being too extreme,” Green said. Scouts in one car of the Wheat Quality Council tour traveling through Burleigh, McLean and Ward counties in west-central North Dakota…

DENVER, July 25 (Xinhua) — Farmers and scientists in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota are praying for rain and preparing for a drought that could cripple the region for decades.
"I’ve driven through areas where you would expect to see a spindly wheat stand, but there’s no crop left — it’s gone," Watne said.
The three large western states near the Canadian border possess in total 763,678 square km of mostly flat farmland, and are three of the top four wheat-producing states in the country, according to Statista, one of the world’s leading online statistics databases.
U.S. Drought Monitor data released last week showed 50 percent of North Dakota in extreme or severe drought, 30 percent of South Dakota, and 20 percent of Montana.
In fact, 11 of the past 14 years have seen drought in much of the American West, from California across to Texas and Oklahoma, according to the Monitor.
At the same time, neighboring North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum declared a drought emergency.
Agriculture in North Dakota is an 11-billion-dollar a year industry, and the state leads the nation in the production of nearly a dozen crops.
In South Dakota, the Drought Monitor showed 82 percent of the state in some stage of drought, up from 72 percent in the previous week.
The severe conditions in America’s West had historians and farmers remembering the drought and "Dust Bowl" of the 1930s, considered the worst agricultural disaster in American history.
"We see some of those impacts going on now in California," said Cook, referring to the ongoing drought that is the worst in state history.

How drought victims can use ND’s 1.4M acres of CRP land to find relief.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Harvest crews are in northeast North Dakota this weekend to take emergency Conservation Reserve Program hay, though some haying on CRP lands won’t happen until the first week of August.
“Hay jockeys” are people without many cows, buying up hay by the bale or the acre just to make a profit selling it at a premium to the drought victims.
Paul Sproule, a farmer from Grand Forks, says he’s been working two weeks to gather CRP cooperators for drought victims.
"We went through a disaster in 1997," Sproule says, when asked why he’s making the effort.
If they use the emergency option they must wait three years to hay the acres under "managed" haying.
"We need feed not only to get us through the winter like we historically do, but we have to figure out how to feed our cattle all the way through next spring," Dahlen says.
Grains, energy sources or byproduct feeds like distillers grains are priced cheaper than buying additional forages.
"Then it comes to the management strategies for putting high-energy feeds into our cow diets when we’re used to managing our cows on forages or grazing throughout the summer," Dahlen says.
The North Dakota Farm Bureau Foundation on July 18 announced a drought relief effort for North Dakota farmers and ranchers affected by the drought.

More drought decline: Report shows further crop deterioration.
In South Dakota, 38 percent of corn was rated poor or very poor.
North Dakota corn was rated 24 percent poor or very poor, compared with 20 percent a week earlier and 16 percent two weeks earlier.
In Minnesota, 5 percent of corn was in poor or very shape, compared with 4 percent a week earlier and 3 percent two weeks earlier.
In North Dakota, 74 percent of range and pasture was rated poor or very poor, compared with 69 percent a week earlier and and 62 percent two weeks earlier.
In South Dakota, 68 percent of range and pasture was in poor or very poor shape, compared with 59 percent a week earlier and 57 percent two weeks earlier.
Montana range and pasture was rated 58 percent poor or very poor, compared with 51 percent a week earlier and 42 percent two weeks earlier.
Here’s what the report found for spring wheat and soybeans, which, along with corn, are the region’s three main crops.
Spring wheat South Dakota — Seventy-four percent was in poor or very poor shape, compared with 72 percent a week earlier and 65 percent two weeks earlier.
Soybeans South Dakota — Thirty-three percent was in poor or very poor condition, compared with 28 percent a week earlier and 23 percent two weeks earlier.

Severe drought expands into more than half of North Dakota.
In North Dakota, extreme drought conditions increased from 30 percent to nearly 36 percent of the state during the past week.
More than half of North Dakota now lies within an area of severe drought.
Such conditions have resulted in small grain crop failures as well as reports of producers selling off livestock.
Little relief to the drought is in sight as the National Weather Service in Bismarck forecasts a high of 102 degrees on Friday with a 30 percent chance of a thunderstorm.
Temperatures will remain in the 90s throughout the weekend, which is expected to remain dry.
In response to the heat, Ministry on the Margins, 201 N. 24th St. in Bismarck, will be open extended hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Tuesday to offer a cool place for those in need of it.
Sisters of Annunciation Monastery and volunteers also will offer cold refreshments.
The Bismarck area has received about .10 inches of rain in July, according to Weather Underground.
The average total rainfall amount at this time is 9.84 inches.

ND Farmers Union head calls for disaster bill amid extreme drought.
BISMARCK — Facing historically dry conditions affecting the state’s farmers and ranchers, the president of the North Dakota Farmers Union called on Congress to provide emergency financial assistance Tuesday, July 11.
"It’s time for agriculture to once again get the federal support that it should have, because we provide the highest-quality, best food system in the world," Mark Watne said.
"We’re going to need help with a disaster bill."
Doug Burgum declared a statewide fire and drought emergency in late June, citing extremely dry conditions, lack of precipitation and high winds.
Following a historically wet six months, North Dakota experienced its ninth-driest spring since 1890 this year, according to a presentation from North Dakota State Climatologist Adnan Akyuz.
State and federal agencies have taken some steps to provide relief, including Monday’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would open Conservation Reserve Program acres for haying within 150 miles of severe drought areas.
"In some cases, ranch families that have had challenges with drought might be able to look a couple counties (away) and find some available feedstuff or find some grazing," she said.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said she would be "on board" with a disaster bill, but she said those bills tend to be temporary.
He noted the worst drought conditions are largely concentrated in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.

1 / 2 FARGO — Much of eastern North Dakota has endured abnormally dry weather but has escaped drought conditions.
Over the past 90 days, Fargo has received 52 percent of normal rainfall, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network.
Lawns that are just starting to parch could quickly turn brown if the forecast, which calls for highs in the 90s later this week and little chance of rain, holds.
The WDAY forecast indicates temperatures could creep above 90 degrees starting today, July 5, cool slightly for a day or two, then possibly return above 90 Saturday and Sunday, with the possibility of 90-degree temperatures continuing into next week, she said.
Hotter air can hold more water, drawing moisture from soils and plants, said Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota’s state climatologist.
He added: "The plants are going to lose water fast," assuming temperatures linger in the upper 80s and low 90s as predicted.
Almost the entire state — 99.98 percent — is at least abnormally dry, and two-thirds of the state is in at least moderate drought, while 46.9 percent is in extreme drought.
Ross, west of Minot, has received only 26 percent of normal rainfall — 1.93 inches — over the past three months, according to NDAWN figures.
At the other end of the scale, areas of the northern Red River Valley have received above-normal rainfall.
Grand Forks, where 8.58 inches of rain has fallen in the past three months, is at 117 percent of normal precipitation.