Kyle Shively, left, field representative for Rugby Livestock Auction, tells about the high number of cattle being sold at the livestock auction. Also shown, from the left, are agriculture producers Tyler Stafslien of Makoti, Ryan Pederson of Rolette, and Pat Murphy of Carpio. They were among agriculture producers attending the June 30 drought meeting held in Minot. Eloise Ogden/MDN

Tyler Stafslien, Makoti, an agriculture producer about 50 miles southwest of Minot, said at a recent drought meeting, “I’m 44 years old and I won’t harvest a wheat crop this year. It’s the first time I recall that happening on my farm.”

Stafslien and other agriculture producers shared their concerns about the drought, their crops and livestock and the drought impact on communities to Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and two officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a June 30 meeting at the North Central Research Extension Center, south of Minot.

Hoeven, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriatons Committee, invited Risk Management Agency Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy and Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux, both in Washington, D.C., to come to North Dakota to review the severe drought conditions and gather input from agriculture producers. Besides Minot, the meetings were held in Mandan, Carrington and Argusville June 30-July 1.

Stafslien, also representing North Dakota Farmers Union, said the quicker Risk Management Agency (RMA) can release acres, the better.

He along with a number of other crop producers who spoke, said, ‘I’ll survive but there isn’t going to be extra money in the countryside. Communities are going to start suffering this fall whether you’re selling farm machinery, vehicles, whatever. So there’s going to be a long-term effect of this that’s going to continue for some time. We don’t know when the drought is going to end. It could continue into next year and hope that’s not the case.

Concerns were high among the group for those who have cattle.

“What I said is I’ll survive because of crop insurance. Should we have a long-term program in the future that provides some type of back-stop for these cattle guys. They don’t have that and it just seems like a solution we should try and come up with,” Stafslien told Hoeven, Goehring, Flounoy and Ducheneaux.

Kyle Shively, field representative for Rugby Livestock Auction, said in the month of June the livestock auction sold four times as many cows as it normally does. “We’ve been going steady every week, mainly culled cattle and cow-calf pairs. Between May and June we sold 17,500 cows and I think we’ve just kind of touched the tip of it at this point,” he told the group.

He said generally at this time of the year they sell 120 or 150 culled cows a week but during the third week in June they sold “900 and some.”

“Some of our concerns is the amount of cattle leaving this country that won’t be back for three, four or five years. It’s going to hurt these rural communities big time,” Shively said.

“The margins have been so small in the cattle industry for the last four or five years that I think we’re going to have to get some extra help for these farmers in order for them to stay afloat and try to rebuild over the next three to four years,” he added.

He reiterated as others said to get CRP released. “There’s not much green in Pierce or McHenry counties, it’s all pretty brown” but, he said, the CRP would help “to try to keep some of these guys going.”

Paul Thomas, who farms at Velva and is a N.D. legislator, also represented the N.D. Corn Growers Association. He said the small grain crops in his area are fairly well decimated as a result of the drought.

When producers comment on the two worst drought years ever, he said they would say the years 1961 and the 1988 harvest. But he said they are now saying the current drought has surpassed 1988. “1961 is still debatable,” he added.

“This is definitely one of the most devastating droughts that have ever happened in this region, specifically up here so it’s very serious,” Thomas told Hoeven, Goehring and the USDA officials.

“We have pastures that livestock are not even being turned into at all.” He said the number one thing that ranchers are asking for is the release of CRP for hay as soon as possible.

“This heat that we’re experiencing right now is obviously diminishing the amount of forage that’s there. They’re losing that every day. My neighbors are still hauling their cow-calf pairs to the livestock barn in Rugby. They’re still holding out hope but each week they’re having to take more and more there so the timeliness of releasing that CRP so at least they know there may be some forage this fall to feed them would be extremely important,” he said.

As as a crop producer, he said crop insurance will get him through this year. “We have that, we know we’ll be collecting on it, the levels are probably going to be adequate,” he said.

“This is a historic drought,” said Hoeven. “We know we got to get out there and get it done. This isn’t like every other year.”

Cale Neshem, a farmer from Berthold, said, “The only drought I really have in my timeline – I’m 26 – to compare it to is 2017. I know in 2017 I think my worst wheat stand would be far and away my best wheat stand this year.”

He went on to say, “It’s obviously a much more difficult situation for these livestock guys. We’ll have crop insurance and we’ll be alright.”

Also representing the N.D. Grain Growers at the meeting, he said that group would like to see the Risk Management Agency have someone stationed in North Dakota because this is such a high crop insurance usage state. “We feel it would be very beneficial if there were some boots on the ground that were here in this state and see first hand and better utilize our resources that are available at the time,” Neshem said.

Kevin Hansen, Ryder, on the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association board of directors, reiterated the concerns of other to open CRP as soon as possible.

He told the group among his requests is the importance of the Farm Service Agency having in-person meetings with cattle producers. “It’s important that we have face-to-face contact. This really can’t be done over a phone or over a computer. We need to have the offices open and available to take appointments and get producers in to meet with those involved with FSA,” he said.

Kim Saueressig, a producer from McClusky in Sheridan County and representing N.D. Pulse Growers, said that county has been in exceptional drought for three months? It shouldn’t be rocket science that if you’re in an exceptional drought for three months there’s not going to be a whole lot there. Granted there is pockets of rain that have popped up in the last three or four weeks so the possibility is there for some of these late season row crops.

“My biggest question is where are all the insurance adjusters going to come from to do the adjusting?,” Saueressig asked. “You’re talking hundreds of thousands of acres that have to get looked at. We’ve had some hailstorms go through our farm in the last three of so years where you talk to the adjuster and it’s not his fault, he’s busy, but a month goes by and they don’t get out there.”

Flournoy said they have been looking into the situation of adjusters and there are adjusters who can come in from other areas of the country. He said that discussion will be going on over the next days and weeks.

Ryan Pederson, a farmer in the Rolette area and representative of the N.D. Soybean Growers Association, said, “In 1988, I was 12 years old so I got to hear my dad talk about the drought.” Indicated his 13-year-old daughter, he said she now gets to hear about the drought. “But certainly on behalf of the Soybean Growers, truthfully this meeting has to be about the cattle (producers).”

“As the commissioner said, soybean growers have a lot of small chunks of CRP and we can either get those released and let these guys get their cattle fed. That would be our number one priority,” he said.

Pat Murphy, a Carpio area farmer also representing Northern Canola Growers Association, said, “I’ve been doing this for a long time and crop insurance has come a long way. There’s maybe a bump or two along the way but I think everyone has worked on it pretty well. We’re pretty well covered this year I think.”

He said he thinks the crop insurance program has some things in it for the cattle people too and maybe that hasn’t been explored or pushed quite enough.

“My only concern long term is this going to last more than a year or whatever? We’ve been pretty dry for a year now,” Murphy said.

Drought resources

For more information on drought resources (i.e. crop production, farm/ranch management/livestock production, feeds and forages, range and pasture management, drought webinar recordings, livestock water, lawns, gardens and trees, farm and ranch stress, weekly drought updates, hay and feed resources) contact your local NDSU Extension county office: www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension/directory/counties.

WHIP+ & QLA

Drought meetings held in North Dakota June 30-July 1 followed Hoeven’s efforts to finalize the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) program and the Wildfire, Hurricane and Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). The senator is urging USDA to send out the recently-announced payments to producers as soon as possible, which will cover their full QLA payments and additional WHIP+ payments covering 90% of 2019 indemnities as a result.

Prior to this, Hoeven secured funding and eligibility for the programs, including:

– $1.5 billion for WHIP+, along with authorization to establish the QLA program, including coverage for excess moisture and D3 drought in FY2020.

– $1.5 billion for QLA and WHIP+ in FY 2021 Agriculture Appropriations to ensure program funding to meet the demand from producers who were impacted by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019. Producers affected by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 were eligible to apply for QLA, which covers losses from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, wildfires, drought and excessive moisture. Additional information on QLA and WHIP+ is available from USDA at www.farmers.gov.

– Source: Sen. John Hoeven’s office

Available Emergency assistance (As of June 30)

– Emergency Grazing: Producers in 50 North Dakota counties are currently eligible for emergency grazing of CRP acres at limited capacity.

– Livestock Forage Program: Provides payments to livestock owners for feed costs, up to 60 percent of the total monthly cost. Producers in 50 North Dakota counties are currently eligible.

– Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP): Provides assistance to livestock producers for losses not covered by other disaster programs, including assistance for the cost of hauling water to livestock.

Efforts are being done to secure additional disaster assistance including:

– Urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to allow both emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres in North Dakota before Aug. 1.

CRP acres in 50 N.D. counties are currently eligible to be grazed at limited capacity, they are not eligible to be hayed.

In a recent letter to Vilsack, Sen. John Hoeven led the delegation in stressing the risk of poor forage conditions if producers wait until the required date to hay.

– Pressing Risk Management Agency to work with approved insurance providers to ensure quick and fair crop adjustments and payments.