Mitigating Drought
Links
to Drought Mitigation Tools for Agricultural Producers
General
Federal Assistance/Crop Insurance
Irrigation
Crop Management
Hay Hotlines
Range and Livestock Management
Drought Planning for Ranchers
Long-Term Conservation Practices
Public/Private Conservation Partnerships
General
The University of Nebraska Rural Initiative provides links to approximately 1,000
websites of associations, non-profits, educational institutions, businesses, and government agencies in Nebraska.
Local Cooperative Extension divisions can provide producers with area-specific information. The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service homepage maintains a directory of those divisions.
Elite Farmer is a collection of links and articles about “anything related to farming on the web”, including crops, livestock, academic institutions, agricultural machinery manufacturers, auction markets, and newspapers.
Federal Assistance/Crop Insurance
The Western Drought Coordination Council has compiled a Catalog
of Federal Assistance Programs.
The Farm Services Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administers many programs such as crop insurance and conservation programs. FSA agents are located in most counties.
Irrigation
The Irrigation Association’s
mission is to improve the products and practices used to manage water
resources.
The Virtual Library of Irrigation covers a wide variety of irrigation topics and contains links to journals, online articles, and discussion lists.
Utah State University’s Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering website contains a wide variety of irrigation engineering software, some of it free.
The online database of the California Department of Water Resources’ CIMIS program includes information on general irrigation, irrigation scheduling, irrigation scheduling software, mobile irrigation laboratories, consultants, crop coefficients, and related publications. CIMIS is an integrated network of more than 100 weather stations at key agricultural and municipal sites in California.
Crop Management
Drought Resources provides links to Kansas resources.
The University of Idaho Extension Service has articles on tillage practices, irrigation, and water conservation.
Nebraska’s Drought Central provides links to federal and other assistance, articles on drought strategies, and more.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln maintains Drought News Coverage from IANR, with links to resources for agricultural producers.
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has a collection of drought information publications for agricultural producers, with information on crop strategies.
North Dakota State University Cooperative Extension publications for farmers are available for a wide variety of issues, including weeds and herbicides, insect pests, horticulture, diseases, and general production concerns.
South Dakota State University’s Extension Service offers a number of publications on managing drought.
Texas Drought Management Strategies is a packet of information on a wide variety of drought impacts, prepared in response to the 1996 and 1998 droughts by faculty of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and Texas A&M University. In addition to articles on corn, sorghum, and cotton and horticultural crops, financial strategies and economic concerns are covered.
The drought section of the University of Wisconsin–Extension disaster planning handbook includes links to articles on tillage, irrigation, fertilizer application, weed management, alternative crops, tax issues, and sources of assistance.
The National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service has a Drought Resource Guide for agricultural producers.
Hay Hotlines
A partial listing of hay hotlines around the country.
Idaho Hay and Forage Association Hay for Sale Listings Search
Maryland Department of Agriculture Hay and Straw Directory
Michigan State University Extension Hay Listing Network
Missouri Hay Market Listings
Montana Department of Agriculture Hay Hotline
Nebraska Department of Agriculture Hay & Forage Hotline
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Hay for Sale Ads
NDSU FeedList (North Dakota)
South Dakota’s FeedFinder
Texas Department of Agriculture Hay Hotline
USDA’s Hay Net
The Hay Barn (Virginia)
West Virginia University Extension Service Hay for Sale
Hay and Pasture Listings, from the Noble Foundation
Range and Livestock Management
Many drought-related publications and resources are available on the web for livestock producers.
Alabama Drought Emergency Relief Effort provides links to news articles, disaster assistance, and management strategies.
Colorado State University offers a Farm, Ranch & Small Acreage website, with links to agricultural articles on topics including alternative feeding strategies, culling, and managing water supplies. Drought-related fact sheets and tip sheets covering feeding strategies are also available.
Iowa State University Cooperative Extension Service provides links to articles on managing drought.
Drought Resources provides links to Kansas resources.
Presentations from Surviving the Drought: Lessons Learned from the 2000–2005 Drought in Nebraska, a workshop presented by the National Drought Mitigation Center and the Center for Rural Affairs, discuss a wide range of strategies to help producers prepare for and deal with drought.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln maintains Drought News Coverage from IANR, with links to resources for agricultural producers such as Beef Cattle Production.
Montana’s Cooperative Extension Service provides a number of articles dealing with grazing management, livestock water quality, and feeding strategies.
From Montana State University, Drought Strategies for Beef Producers, Part I: Range and Water Management, and Part II: Supplementing Cattle on Drought-Affected Pastures and Ranges provide information on managing the effects of drought.
Nebraska’s Drought Central provides links to federal and other assistance, sources of hay, articles on livestock management, and more.
Drought Management on Range and Pastureland: A Handbook for Nebraska and South Dakota is a comprehensive guide for drought-affected operations.
A grazing management approach used on two ranches in New Mexico is discussed in A New Approach to Grazing Management: Using Multi-Herd/Variable Stocking.
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has a collection of drought information publications for agricultural producers, with information on animals and forage.
North Dakota State University Cooperative Extension publications for livestock producers are available for a wide variety of issues, including forages and grazing, economic concerns, feeds and feeding, and poisoning concerns, and they provide links to haylists.
Oklahoma Drought Information, assembled by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service in response to the drought of 1998 in Oklahoma and neighboring states, has some timeless drought mitigation information for farmers and ranchers.
Oregon State University provides information on water management in Livestock Water Management During A Drought.
South Dakota State University’s Cooperative Extension Service provides a number of publications on livestock and alternative feed and forage.
Texas Drought Management Strategies is a packet of information on a wide variety of drought impacts, prepared in response to the 1996 and 1998 droughts by faculty of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and Texas A&M University. In addition to articles on livestock and range management, financial strategies and economic concerns are covered. Another Texas Cooperative Extension website, Managing for Drought on Texas Rangelands, covers similar issues. From the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management at Texas A&M, Management and Range Recovery Following Drought discusses potential options for producers.
Washington State University Extension Drought Alert provides links to publications and news releases as well as lists of experts and other contacts in the state of Washington.The Forage and Livestock section of the West Virginia University Extension Service has a subsection (scroll down toward the bottom of the page) with drought-related articles.
The drought section of the University of Wisconsin–Extension disaster planning handbook includes information on range and cattle management.
Wyoming’s Drought Planning and Management site provides PowerPoint presentations and links to articles and other resources for Wyoming ranchers.
Rangelands West is part of a national effort to provide agricultural information, resources, and tools on the web.
The National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service has a Drought Resource Guide for agricultural producers.
Beef magazine is a good source of drought-related articles. See, for example, Drought strategies, Drought and reproductive efficiency, and In managing for drought, communication is essential.
Alternative Feeding Programs and Feeds for Drought Stressed Beef Cow Herds comes from Land O Lakes Farmland Feed.
The Noble Foundation, based in Oklahoma, is another source of information for Oklahoma and northern Texas. See, for example, Remember These Drought Management Strategies During the Rest of the Summer; Winter Pasture Options Following Drought Conditions; DROUGHT: Regular Occurrence in our Business; Drought-Induced Poisonings are Dangerous to Livestock; and Water Availability Concerns.
Drought Planning for Ranchers
Planning: The Key to Surviving Drought outlines basic steps involved in creating a drought plan.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service has drought tips and information to help agricultural producers create their own drought plans.
Land EKG provides general information on creating a drought plan.
The Ranching School of Hard Knocks discusses drought planning and management.
Ranch Management Consultants offer drought planning ideas.
Drought - what it does and what you can do about it discusses drought planning basics.
Long-Term Conservation Practices
Long-term land conservation—practices that reduce erosion, provide
ground cover to protect soil from wind, allow fallow periods so that soils
will not be depleted—is another drought mitigation tool. The Natural
Resource Conservation Service (NRCS; formerly the Soil Conservation
Service) can provide information about land management practices tailored
to specific parts of the country. Local NRCS offices are often listed
in the government pages of the local phone book under the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
Public/Private Conservation Partnerships
The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan seeks to conserve working ranch lands to protect areas of open space in Pima County, Arizona, and preserve the heritage and culture of the Southwest.
The National Grassbank Network provides information about grassbanking and other rangeland conservation tools.
Montana’s Undaunted Stewardship program promotes naturally sustained productivity on rangelands.
The Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) provides technical assistance on privately owned grazing lands on a voluntary basis.
The Corporation for the Northern Rockies helps landowners learn about stewardship techniques for healthy rangelands and riparian areas.
© 2007 National Drought Mitigation Center