FARGO, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – N.D. Gov. Doug Burgum and state Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and other farm service agencies sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting a secretarial disaster designation to make federal assistance available to agricultural producers struggling with extremely wet harvest conditions.
Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford addressed the issue of farm stress and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library with reporter Steve Urness during the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame East Meets West banquet and auction on Friday, November 1st.
To qualify for a secretarial designation, a county must have experienced a minimum 30 percent production loss of at least one crop due to natural disaster, and 46 of North Dakota’s 53 counties report meeting that threshold.
The six other counties, Barnes, Burleigh, Dickey, Logan, McLean and Richland are requesting a deferral from the secretary to allow more time to harvest fall crops to determine if there is a loss.
