Last week, the governor announced that emergency resources are available for farmers tackling drought conditions across Missouri. Family farms are eligible to receive 5,000 gallons of water each day from one of 33 locations — 28 conservation areas and five state parks. In addition, the governor instituted a lottery system for farmers who are interested in haying on designated state park land.
This comes as Missouri addresses worsening drought conditions throughout the state. The governor had previously declared a drought alert for 47 counties in July, which was later expanded to 86 counties — approximately three of every four counties in Missouri. As you may know, this problem is affecting our area of the state; every county in the district is considered to be experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has compiled a list of various drought resources available to Missouri landowners. You can view that list online at dnr.mo.gov/drought.htm. A map of water access locations can be found at dnr.mo.gov/documents/drought-waterhauling-map.pdf.
To make arrangements to pump water for your family farm, please call DNR at 573-751-4115, ext. 3209.
Your state government is working hard to support Missouri farmers during these tough times. If you would like to receive periodic reports on drought conditions and resources, you can sign up for automatic email updates through the DNR drought webpage.