Posted by Mark Brusberg, Chief Meteorologist, Office of the Chief Economist, World Agricultural Outlook Board and Rachel Steele, USDA National Climate Hubs Coordinator in Climate Even before the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s, agricultural producers have recognized the economic and emotional devastation that drought can cause.
Recently, the focus has shifted from dealing with drought as an unexpected hazard, to more proactive planning for the inevitability of drought.
One of the tools available to producers is the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), a weekly map of drought conditions produced jointly by the USDA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Established in 1999, many sectors use the Drought Monitor.
The USDA uses the map to distribute drought relief funds to agricultural producers, through programs such as the Livestock Forage Program (LFP).
Shortly after its release, USDA began using the Drought Monitor as a trigger for several of its programs.
In fact, the 2008 and 2014 versions of the Farm Bill mandate the use of the Drought Monitor to identify areas available for LFP relief and to calculate the level of support available to ranchers, leading to delivery of more than $6 billion for that program alone.
In recent years, the USDA and NDMC have made the Drought Monitor and its companion products more useful to the public, including the addition of a Spanish-language version, data on regional drought impacts, and improvements to tools like the Drought Impact Reporter and an eligibility calculator for the LFP.
To allay concerns, the NDMC has developed a series of workshops in partnership with USDA’s Climate Hubs, 10 centers around the country which link USDA research and program agencies to deliver timely and authoritative resources to agricultural producers and professionals.
In this way, USDA field personnel can help the public identify when they may be eligible for drought relief programs, provide them with information on weather and climate patterns common to their region, and recommend steps to mitigate the impacts of weather and climate extremes.