Despite recent rains, drought has impacted many farms across Vermont and New England this summer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continues to sound the alarm about drought conditions across our region, especially from southern Chittenden County south through Addison, Rutland and Bennington Counties, with the outlook for future precipitation unclear.
In the Champlain Valley of Vermont, many farms have alerted the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the USDA Farm Services Agency of severe drought conditions resulting in added expenses and crop losses. Our agencies would like to hear from you if you have suffered impacts of this summer’s drought. Crop losses of 30% or more could help establish a basis for disaster relief programs to be made available to Vermont farms.
If this concern applies to your farm, please contact us with the following information:
- Producer name, location of the loss (town, county
- Crop type and quantitative loss of the crop in acres, bushels, bales, etc…
- Dates of loss and loss relative to expected production.
- Description of water supply problems, pond levels, impact on irrigation (if applicable), or need to drill wells to provide water for irrigation or livestock
Please submit your information to the Farm Services Agency service center in your area. Find their contact information at: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=vt&agency=fsa
For more drought details visit the Northeast Drought Early Warning System Dashboard.