U.S. Agriculture secretary issues drought disaster declaration for Colorado farms

Vilsack (.)

John Fryar Longmont

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday issued a drought disaster designation for 62 of Colorado's 64 counties, making federal assistance available for at least some farmers and ranchers.

Vilsack notified Gov. John Hickenlooper of the disaster declaration on Tuesday, according to members of Colorado's congressional delegation, who were alerted to the action on Tuesday morning.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reviewed loss assessment reports and determined that there were sufficient losses in 62 counties -- all of Colorado's counties except Delta and San Juan -- to qualify them as "primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought, excessive heat and high winds that occurred from Jan. 1, 2012,

and continuing," according to the letter.

The disaster designation makes farm operators eligible for assistance, including emergency loans, from the federal Farm Service Agency, provided other eligibility requirements are met.

Hickenlooper, who wrote Vilsack last week seeking assistance, said in a Tuesday afternoon statement, "This federal disaster declaration will give farmers and ranchers in Weld County and nearly every other part of the state much needed relief."

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months to apply for emergency loan assistance. The Farm Service Agency will consider each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses, security available and repayment ability.

Weld County commissioners have backed their county's farmers' continuing push for state permission to pump water from an underground aquifer in the South Platte River Basin -- something Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' staff has advised that Hickenlooper doesn't have the legal authority to do.

Weld's commissioners then sought a formal legal opinion from Suthers, asking him to consider legal points raised by Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker.

Weld commissioners' spokeswoman Jennifer Finch said Tuesday that Suthers' office has declined the commissioners' request for a formal legal opinion.

Meanwhile, Weld commissioners announced Tuesday that they were asking about 30 ditch companies and others holding senior rights to surface water for their consent to allow Weld farmers to pump from those wells for up to 30 days to irrigate their fields during the drought.

"This would only be on pumps currently metered," commissioner Sean Conway told The Denver Post. "What we're asking for is very limited, and it's on an augmentation plan. Everything has to be put back."

For about six years, South Platte River Basin farmers have been prohibited by court decisions and state engineer's orders from using the wells that were long ago drilled into the aquifer.

Weld County commissioners wrote that farmers who rely solely on ditch rights to water their fields "are now completely out or very short of water, and their crops are dying in the field."

John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.

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