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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Mexico Farmers Hit by Drought May Be Eligible for Aid

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015   

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - It may only be February, but several drought-ravaged counties in New Mexico and other Western states are already under a "primary natural disaster declaration."

Val Dolcini, who heads the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, says the action opens up financial assistance programs to farmers and ranchers who have endured losses and damages because of the recent drought.

"The designation is sort of the door-opener for these benefits," says Dolcini. "They could be low-interest emergency loans, but it could also be participation in the Emergency Conservation Program, or a long list of other USDA programs."

In New Mexico, the designation applies to Colfax, McKinley, Quay, San Juan and Union counties, as well as several contiguous counties. Regionally, the USDA has declared primary natural disaster areas in 256 counties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

The drought situation may not improve anytime soon. The most recent National Climate Assessment report conducted by the U.S. Global Change Research Program concluded that as temperatures continue to rise, droughts in the Southwest will be longer, and drier conditions will cause more significant wildfires. Dolcini says climate change has impacted farming nationwide.

"It's hard to deny that the climate has changed over the years," he says. "The impact that has on industries like agriculture is also hard to deny. We've seen incredible droughts over the course of the last four or five years throughout many parts of the United States."

The USDA has issued natural disaster declarations for several years as the drought has continued and intensified across much of the western U.S. Farmers and ranchers remain eligible for the USDA assistance programs for eight months from the date the designation was issued.


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