On April 11, USDA announced $131 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to begin work on the USDA Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire strategy, Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests. The funding will be allocated to 10 landscapes in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The two landscapes in California, the North Yuba and the Stanislaus, will receive $28.6 million in 2022 and $80.7 million total over the next three years.  

USDA has announced additional relief through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP) to assist ranchers with above normal costs of hauling livestock to forage or other grazing acres. This is intended to complement previously announced ELAP compensation for hauling feed to livestock. Additionally, ELAP livestock and feed hauling assistance is retroactive for 2021 and will be available for 2022 losses and subsequent years. These benefits are for places where drought intensity is D2 for eight consecutive weeks as indicated by the Drought Monitor or drought intensity is D3 or greater. Additionally, FSA has updated ELAP policy to also cover water hauling in areas experiencing D2 for eight consecutive weeks, lowering the drought intensity threshold (previously D3) triggering the availability of this financial assistance. For additional information on eligibility and payment calculations, read the USDA press release here. 

Reclamation also announced $20 million in immediate aid to the Klamath Project through the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency for the 2022 irrigation season. An additional $5 million in technical assistance is also being made available to Klamath Basin Tribes for Tribally led projects. For additional information, the Bureau of Reclamation announcement can be viewed here. 

Yesterday, Politico published an article with the title above, intending to explain to readers the reasons behind the increase in prices for all their typical hamburger ingredients. While we know our members are well versed in understanding where the food in their pantries and on their plates come from, the average consumer usually faces a bigger disconnect in understanding how these supply chains work. With a unique interface, we thought this piece does a great job in hitting on some of the labor challenges, inflationary components, and other contributors to rising food costs.

On April 5th, the Environmental Protection Agency released their Nutrient Framework Memo which expresses the agency’s continued commitment to supporting states and industry partner’s work in achieving nutrient pollution reductions from all sources. The memo emphasizes the importance of working with the agriculture sector and stives to initiate new opportunities, while also deepening many of the existing collaborative partnerships. It allows for states, tribes, and territories to continue to lead nutrient reduction efforts and encourages them to adopt a One Water, holistic approach.