Drought 2012: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack Recommends Disaster Designation for Story, Other Iowa Counties

Hold on farmers. Some federal assistance could be on the way.

It's been a summer where a severe drought and high temperatures has led to counties with than banner crops across the state. In response, Tom Vilsack, the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, has designated 42 Iowa counties, including Story County, as primary natural disaster areas due to the recent drought's affect on crops.

In a letter in response to Gov. Terry Branstad's request for aid on July 16, Vilsack stated that this means that farmers can seek assistance from the federal Farm Services Agency, including securing emergency loans to make ends meet.

Gov. Branstad released a statement in response to Vilsack's decision.

“In response to my letter, the Lt. Governor and I would like to thank Secretary Vilsack for the USDA’s recent drought declaration of several Iowa counties. This drought has had a significant impact on Iowa agriculture and the farmers who work hard every day to feed a growing world population. This disaster designation will provide affected Iowans with additional resources during these difficult times."

While the drought conditions have brought a disaster declaration to Story County the City of Ames Water Department doesn't think it will have to ask the city to implement water rationing in the next two weeks, the city said in a release this week.

John Dunn, water and pollution control director, said the rationing might not be necessary if future rainfall amounts remain near normal.

Rainfall for the week ending July 28 was near normal, but the Ames area is still 2.2 inches below normal for the month of July and 6 inches below normal for the three month period from May to July.

You can read Vilsack's release with the full list of affected counties in the PDF attached to this article.